Can't really recommend anyone, sorry. Once my wife and I had settled on the town we wanted to purchase in, we spent a week in a hotel there and walked around chatting to the locals until we had a list of suitable properties which we knew were for sale. We then knocked on the door of any that really interested and explained we were looking to buy. We found a cracking house which matched our specification 100% and negociated with the vendor directly, so didn't use an agent.
The problem seems to be with many agents is many people found them very good to deal with, whereas a few may have had problems. Unfortunately, on the internet especially, its the few that make the loudest noise!