What is in your potting soil they sell in UK ?
Instead of peatmoss I just get a bag of potting soil, ( which is bascially peatmoss) and if it conains some bark chips, I just screen it out. Some of our potting soil also has has perlite included. However I will add extra perlite. Do you have coconut fiber (coir), that may also work.

In my blog there are some photos and a recipe.
Have fun -- Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Design Ideas

I have used crushed leaves as a peat substitute with good results.Try it with a small project and experiment for the results. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I managed to get hold of some peat taken from a site of no scientific interest but as it can never be replaced [unless we want to wait a few thousand years] I'm going to have a go with mushroom compost [ the waste from mushroom growers] which will no doubt have some peat in it but at least it's re-cycled. Will let you know if it's disaster or triumph.

I've used coir, old tired potting medium/soil and wood shavings usually used for small animals or horse bedding, all with good results.