<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

    I got in touch with the UK Coeliac Society about how those
travelling to England might be able to obtain their GF shopping guide,
highly recommended by British Listmembers. Their reply was very
encouraging:

   "If you would please let us have the address in the UK at which you
will be staying, and your date of arrival, we will be happy to send
the information to you there. This will negate expensive postal
charges, the possibility of loss or delay, and also ensure that the
food information we send is as up-to-date as
possible.  We would send it just before your expected date of arrival.
The Food List book costs £3.00 and this can be paid when you are here
- please mention that it is for a book already received."

     The easiest way to e-mail the UK Coeliac Society and order the
guide is through their website at
        http://www.coeliac.co.uk

     As to being able to purchase the GF breads, crackers, biscuits
(cookies), etc., that British celiacs can get at the chemist, that is
a lot more difficult, if not virtually impossible.
     I got in touch with Boots, the British chemists (drugstores to
us). They were helpful as can be, but this is what they said:
     1) These GF items are available by prescritpion ONLY. You cannot
walk in and simply purchase what is there.
     2) Only prescriptions from doctors registered in the UK are
honored. A letter from a US doctor would cut no ice.
     3)It is possible, as our British Listmembers have pointed out, to
get a prepaid prescrption for the year, costing 80 pounds. This is a
lot of money if you're only going to be in England for a week or two,
not to mention the time you'll waste trying to get the prescription.
It doesn't make much sense at all, when you can get the UK Coeliac
Society shopping guide, or the very complete GF lists from Marks &
Spencer (marvelous list, which serves most places where they have M&S,
including Paris, Spain, and Hong Kong), or from the big supermarket
chains such as Sainsbury and Tesco.
    4) However, for those lucky enough, or determined enough to get a
UK prescription, the ever-helpful staff at Boots has this
recommendation:
     Get in touch with the Boots at 44/46 Regent Street, London,
telephone 0171-734-6126, and ask them to order the products for you,
at the same time giving details of the date of your arrival. But you'd
better have that prescription with you when you go there, because
otherwise you are going to walk out emptyhanded.
     I hope this information proves useful to anybody travelling to
England this summer.                        Regards to all,
                                   Mary