FROM BULGARIA TO BRITAIN: SALIH’S 25-YEAR CAREER AT WB CHAMBERS

A 45-year-old from Bulgaria has revealed how more than two decades working at WB Chambers farm in Kent transformed his life.

From a young student with no English and little expectation of ever leaving his home country, he’s grown into a senior figure helping shape one of the UK’s most respected soft fruit growers.

Salih Hodzhov first arrived in the UK in May 2001 as a university student through the Seasonal Worker Scheme. Aged just 21, he came to the farm as part of his work experience placement. What was meant to be a short trip has stretched into a remarkable 25-year career.

Today, Salih is not only a key member of the farm’s management team, but also a husband, a father-of-two, and the informal anchor to a community of around 350 people from his home village in Bulgaria who travel to Kent each summer to work on the farm.

Salih grew up in Bulgaria at a time when leaving the country felt like an impossible dream. “I come from a country where I thought I’d never leave because it was a communist country,” he explains. “But this was a chance to go and see a different place. To come and visit England was most people’s dream.”

The opportunity came through his university, where he was selected to join the Seasonal Worker Scheme. Alongside the excitement of seeing England for the first time, there was also a practical draw – the chance to earn more money than he was able to in Bulgaria.

When he arrived at the farm, Salih already had some familiarity with agricultural life as his parents had grown tobacco back in Bulgaria. But his first impression of WB Chambers made an immediate impact and kept him coming back year after year, until eventually, Chambers became home.

“I had a really positive first impression,” he recalls. “Of course, it’s hard work, but you meet people from lots of different countries and it’s a nice experience.” The farms in the UK, he noted, were also a step up from what he had known at home, both in terms of the facilities offered and in what workers could earn.

One of Salih’s biggest initial challenges was the language barrier. When he first moved to the UK, he spoke virtually no English. Over the years, through daily work and interaction with colleagues and management, he steadily built his confidence and communication skills to the point where he could understand and express himself clearly.

His progression within the farm was driven by his willingness, dedication and an ability to seize every opportunity that came his way. As the soft fruit industry grew and WB Chambers transitioned from a family business to a large commercial enterprise Salih grew with it.

“Over the years I was given more and more responsibilities,” he says. “The job just grew over time, and I had the opportunity to rise in my career too.”

Reflecting on his relationship with the farm, where he’s now spent most of his life, Salih says: “It is a symbiotic relationship, I would say. I have grown because of the farm.

“My qualifications, everything I’ve learned, everything I am today is definitely because of the business. I came as a young boy and now, I’m a middle-aged man, so I have learnt a lot over that time. But I also hope the business feels the same way about me as now I can offer my experience and qualifications to help them in return.”

One of the most remarkable chapters of Salih’s story is the family he has built here. In 2002, just a year after arriving, he met his wife, also Bulgarian and also on a placement through the Seasonal Worker Scheme. They married and went on to have two children, a son aged 18 and a daughter aged 16, both born in the UK and educated here, making them, as Salih puts it, “second generation immigrants”. Salih’s parents also still travel to the farm each year to help during the harvest season.

But the connections don’t end there. Around 350 people from Salih’s home village, Brashten, in Bulgaria now work at WB Chambers each summer. The locals are drawn by the reputation the scheme has built among their community, and the shared sense of culture and belonging that comes from working alongside people who speak the same language and share the same background.

“I meet more people from my home village when I’m in Kent than I meet when I’m in Bulgaria once or twice a year,” Salih jokes.

For Salih, the Seasonal Worker Scheme is something to celebrate. “When people talk about workers on the farm, I think there’s a bit of pity, or people feel sorry about how these people are working and living away from their families,” he said. “But from my perspective, I see it as a positive because it’s an opportunity to do something better in life.”

That philosophy is rooted in his own experience. Through the scheme, Salih and many of those he brought with him have bought houses back home, learned a new language and developed skills they would not have had access to otherwise. “The scheme is brilliant for people wanting to better themselves,” he said. “It’s a great start in life for 99% of the people, I’d say.”

As he looks back on 25 years at WB Chambers, Salih’s advice to new seasonal workers is simple: “Think about the opportunities and don’t be afraid. In the beginning you need to be patient because it’s away from home and it’s different. But after a few weeks of settling in, you’ll see it’s full of great opportunities – and you should take them.”