For those of you living in the UK...

[Angelwing]

I know a few of you live here. How do you enjoy it? I've always wanted to take a trip here, and finally plan on doing so either next year, or the year after. If I like it as much as I think I will, a few years after that, I hope to be moving there (after I'm done school, have a bit more money). Which are your favourite areas, and what are they like? I want to be near a city, but not live in one. I'm a country girl. :cool: If you have any other tidbits to share, that'd be great, as well.

[cassysmiley]

hiya angelwing
Well as you know i am in U.K. I live in Bristol, which is a city. But was not born here. I hate citys to as i was brought up in the country.
What i suggest you might like to do is to think of cities where you would like to go then Google them.
There is 1 city you might like to try, and thats WELLS its the smallest city of the U.K. right smack bang in the countryside. Not to far from where i was born either. Wells. Somerset. There is of course London. You also might try googling Scotland to like Edinburgh, which as Edinburgh Castle. I personally would never go to London, to busy to packed and to Expensive. Dont forget
there is Wales to. Cardiff is a City. There is also Cornwall. Loads of seaside towns there as well. There is Devon and Dorset to. All these are in the South West of Bristol. I am sure others will give you some more names from their part of the country. Hope this helps.
Regards
Cassy.

[Angelwing]

Thanks, Cassy. I have been Googling quite a bit, but figured I'd get some actual opinions, as well. I'll look at the places you've mentioned. :)

[Angelwing]

Thanks, I shall take you up on that offer. :) I'll most likely be going for two weeks, so I hope to see a little bit of every part.

[Angelwing]

When you say there aren't many avian vets, do you mean in the smaller cities, or even the larger ones? We don't have many here in Winnipeg (two decent ones, as far as I know - the others are iffy). If I do happen to move to the UK, I think I would have a problem bringing all my birds over...I think there is a limit two per person (I wonder if that means per person staying in the uk) or six per family. I'll have to look into that more, plus the quarantine and bloodwork. I have nine birds at the moment. ;p

[Sasq]

Im in Watford, which is just outside london to the north. Our nearest avian vet is about 20 miles away. There are plenty of vets that see birds... but they are not true avian vets. There is a huge list of avian vets in the back of parrot parrots magazine.

Where to live.. Well cornwall is very nice.. but the houses are expensive and the jobs dont pay too well. Truro is nice. Bath is nice also.

[Sasq]

The import rules i believe are not too bad. You have to keep your birds quarenteed for 6 months, however that can be done in your place of residence. You want to check this as if im wrong, you may end up with your birds in a goverment quarenteen somewhere.
Our one case of parrot bird flu happened in one of these places - except it wasnt a parrot - about 130 samples were clumped togeather so they had no idea what bird had the avian flu.

[Angelwing]

Yep, last time I checked, you could quarantine in your own home. You have to have bloods done, and a few avian check ups by someone they certify, I believe. They can also check up on you whenever they like, although I wonder how often they actually do that? The only problem is, I'd be taking eight birds over, which is much more than the limit. I have some phoning around to do.

I'm thinking about going into dog grooming, which is in huge demand over here, and the pay is great. I believe it's similar in the UK, or I hope it is. I'll look into these cities you've mentioned. I don't want to live in a city/town, but perhaps close to one, or even on the outskirts.