I waited to attend the local association course before ordering anything so didn’t go in blind and was comfortable handling the ladies. In terms of the 14 x 12 was after having a chat with the experts who said although I could run a brood and a half hive it effectively doubles the number of frames to check, and so have recommended the larger size for starting.
I will have another chat this weekend with them about running a single hive, I’m aware it means I would be lacking the ability to compare between hives, and to easily requeen (transferring brood frame from healthy hive) - it’s one of domestic restrictions at the minute in addition to not having ordered anything until after lessons so I might be able to get one NUC of local bees, 2 is extremely unlikely, realise could artificially swarm but danger is would end up trying to overwinter two weak hives rather than one healthier hive, although do agree two hives would be ideal and if opportunity arises may grab a poly 14x12 National as a second hive.