When you pop to the supermarket and pick up a punnet of strawberries, it’s likely it has come from WB Chambers. The family-run company produces fruit across 20 locations in the South East.

Its chief operating officer, Salih Hodzhov, grew up in communist Bulgaria before taking a chance on an agricultural scheme that changed his life. He told reporter Cara Simmonds what it is like to be an immigrant in the UK…

When he was a little boy, Salih says he never dreamed he would leave Bulgaria.

The 43-year-old was born in a village called Brashten, located in the far south of the country close to the Greek border.

It was approximately 18km to the nearest town of Dospat.

The village was home to more than 900 people, with many working on small family farms growing tobacco, potatoes or looking after livestock.

Salih said: “It was up in the mountains – there wasn’t a lot of land and only a few crops you could work on.

“My mum and dad were tobacco farmers and from a very young age we used to help them in the fields.

“They would put you on the back of a donkey in a basket whilst they worked.

“It was hard – you had to wake up very early – to make sure the sun wasn’t out.

“Once it is, the tobacco leaves would start wilting and it made it difficult to collect them.

“You then put them on ropes and hung them out to dry.”

Between 1944 and 1989, Bulgaria fell under a dictatorship when a communist government was set up after an invasion by the Soviet Red Army.

Salih experienced the communist rule during the 1980s, and says he remembers spotting soldiers guarding the borders.

“We were very cut off,” he recalled. “We lived as a close community – there was only one way in and out.

“Because we were on the border, movement was restricted.

“There were barriers in place with military stationed there.

“Actually there was a military base in the village. Since we were so far south. You couldn’t really leave at all.”

At university, Salih was studying history and Bulgarian language, when the opportunity to work abroad was offered.

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme allowed people from Eastern Europe to have a part-time job in the UK.

From 2008, it was restricted to only Romanian and Bulgarian citizens.

Salih was one of many to take part, and was given a six-month visa to work on a farm and gain experience.

He arrived in the UK in May 2001 at just 21 years old.

“One of my first memories was leaving Heathrow airport,” he explained.

“I bought myself a coffee in a paper cup and I thought ‘this is brilliant’.

“You then see all the roads and buildings, it’s such a massive difference – I had only read about Britain in books.

“They helped us get bank cards and I hadn’t even seen one before.”

In March 2019, a new seasonal worker scheme was launched and initially had a quota of 2,500 places per year.

A much wider range of nationalities is now represented, including those from Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The scheme currently has a quota of 45,000 to 55,000 a year.

Salih was assigned to Belks Farm in Otham Street, Maidstone, for 12 weeks – which was the original WB Chambers site.

The family-run company is the largest independent cane fruit grower in the UK and recently celebrated an eight year partnership with supermarket chain Aldi.

It was first set up in 1952 and is run by third generation owner Tim Chambers, who took over the reins in 1990.

They produce a variety of blackcurrants, redcurrants, cherries, gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries and rhubarb.

As the business grew, Salih gradually moved up the ranks, until he was given the official role of chief operating officer.

The job involves overseeing the whole farming and packing process.

“I came here picking strawberries and raspberries,” he said.

“Then I did some work on the polytunnels and then a bit of supervision.

“There were opportunities to step up more and more.”

He added: “Chambers have been brilliant, they made me feel like part of the family.

“What I am doing now has been my first ever job – I’ve never gone anywhere else.”

The company employs 250 permanent staff, with an additional 1,200 seasonal workers joining the team during the summer.

Around 350 are from Brashten and the neighbouring villages, all thanks to Salih.

The Bulgarian has now lived in Kent for 22 years, with a home and family of his own in Lenham.

He speaks five languages – Bulgarian, Russian, Polish, Turkish and English – as a result of connecting with others through work.

Salih met his wife, Magdalena, on the fruit farm and they have two children, 15-year-old Sufyan and 12-year-old Leena, who go to the The Lenham School and Homewood in Tenterden.

“It is beyond my imagination,” Salih said. “If you told my younger self I’d be living here now with a family, I would say that it is out of the question.

“But it has been a good journey, I have enjoyed it.

“I love communicating with and working with people. I feel like I have grown with the company.”