Welcome, this is a great forum for accumulating beekeeping knowledge but ..
There are a couple of good associations around Southampton and they will be starting their beginners courses in the New Year ... you would be well advised to join one (very cheap when you don't have bees) and see if you can get on a proper course. They usually have several evenings of classroom theory followed by some apiary visits and practical beekeeping at the end in Spring. Our association usually manage to find some bees for the people who do the course so that in itself more than pays for the few pounds it costs. Good luck .. it's a great hobby and if you get hooked - you are hooked for life.
ah yes the University of Guelph is also a good resource - for an absolute beginner though I still think there are non better than Stewart Spinks at Norfolk Honey as he keeps/kept the full range of english hives and langstroth; and then uses them all in his videos covering pretty much every aspect of beekeeping.
