:I live in England at the moment and the winters are a bit harsh.

I am an English man living in Norway, and trust me, winter here is COLD.
When I first started my kayak I had a heated workshop which was nice, now I have a non heated one which rules out working during the winter, not much fun in -20 C - the wood glue takes a loooooong time to set.

The only advice I would give is to not bite of too much too soon. I chose to build Nick's Expedition Single. It has turned out to be a beautiful boat, it is just so big ! On reflection I think the standard Guillimot would have been a better first boat.

Go for it, I am sure you will end up with a great boat that you can be really proud of.

/Ian