About Us

Mrs Darling qualified from Edinburgh Vet School in June 1980. She worked in a mixed practice for over two years and then moved down to London to work solely with pets.

Mrs Darling set up her first surgery in Scotland in 1985, but soon moved back down to London and started a practice in Dulwich. She built this practice up to a very busy two vet/six nurse centre over a 13 year period.
Many weekends over this period were spent in Chichester area and, when a chance arose to move out of London, the family did not hesitate. Once settled in the area, the idea of having a new surgery started to germinate and when the premises at Southbourne came onto the market, it seemed like fate had stepped in.

Mrs Darling has over 20 years veterinary experience and is an animal lover and owner. She has four cats and two dogs of her own. She occasionally shows her dogs and Cora, a curly coated Retriever, was at Crufts this year.

Shelly Randall has been working as a veterinary nurse for 7 years and her first job was with Mrs Darling in her London surgery where she remained for over 4 years. Whilst working for Mrs Darling in London, Shelly completed her training and became a Qualified Veterinary Nurse. Shelly then went on to work in a mixed practice (large and small animals) in Sevenoaks, Kent. Whilst in Sevenoaks Shelly completed her V.H.A (veterinary health care advisor) which helped to extend her knowledge in animal nutrition, behaviour and client communication skills.
Shelly owns 2 cats, "Reebok" is a ginger male cat with no tail due to a road accident and "Koshka" is a Russian Blue male cat. You may see them both patrolling the surgery when you come to see us!!