Don't worry about those who turn their noses up at people who learnt abroad - most of the time its instructors who have only flown in the UK.
I learnt abroad and did all my initial ratings abroad (USA) then converted in minimum time and now fly airliners....I wouldn't worry about what people say....I would go do an intensive course abroad and with the money you save you could spend an hour or two doing a UK familiarisation if you so desire. (NB: for the disbelievers, I did private multi then later the FAA single IR, both in absolute minimum hours and then converted those 2 to a CAA multi IR in around 10 hours (including test) even though I'd never done any IR stuff in a twin before or any UK IR or IMC flying.)