Thank you everyone for such lovely advice!
I have found a teacher who I’ll hopefully have a lesson with soon, really looking forward to it! When I discussed the lesson with her, she said she can help advise me about what to buy etc which sounds great.
The advice about levers is very helpful, and I have been looking at the Sharpsicle too, that does look like a good starting-point. Also very useful to know about making sure there is a whole octave below middle C. I had been wondering about how many strings were best to start on and that was the impression I had got – that more would be easier and more flexible.
Thanks! Any advice is really helpful 🙂