best way to find an au pair, when we're not there yet?

[MizZan]

we are potentially relocating from overseas back to the UK, to the same town we lived in before. Had several successful (and one less successful) au pair experiences there and would like to do this again, however I have looked on my previous online sources (great au pair and gumtree) and it seems like practically no one is looking for a long term au pair gig in our town (Camb.)- big change from 2 years ago. not sure what is different but does anyone have suggestions? would love to avoid paying agency fee but will if we have to - can anyone recommend a good one that serves areas which are not london?

second problem is we are not there to interview in person. for the 2 APs we had who worked out, both were already inthe UK and we could interview. the one we hired sight unseen ended up being a disaster. any foolproof tips on how to handle (and on how to make our situation seem attractive to potential AP when we don't even have a house yet...)?

Can you not find one in the country you are in now and arrange for her to return with/slightly after you?

We are near to Camb. and I've just recruited an au pair using aupairworld.net Got a lot of information and references by email - references checked by fluent german speaking dBIL and then final interview over the phone (to check on her level of english).
I guess you will have to rave about the amenties of the town without talking about your house in particular..What's your time scale? When we moved here we were thinking about getting an ap and I rang an agency and they said that they would be able to 'supply' someone from eastern europe within 3 weeks, with local police check and references checked.

thanks millarkie and marmaduke. I will look on aupairworld. hadn't thought of bringng one over from country we're in now. since country is USA, there would be visa issues - unless we wanted someone to come for 3 months and lie to immigration about why they were coming, which I don't think would be ideal. on the other hand we might be able to find someone european who is currently an au pair here and would like to go to the uk next, I suppose...not sure how I would go about this though.