Thanks in part to this forum and this thread in particular I ventured over to the Isle of Man and landed at Ronaldsway.
I echo the comments already made about the excellent service from Mark at
www.letsfly.im who provides a really friendly handling operation there.
This was my first major trip after gaining my licence last month and Ronaldsway ATC were incredibly helpful to me as were London Information.
I managed to catch the last day of racing at the Manx GP but even without the racing there is so much to see and do on the island.
I also drove up to Andreas to check out the airfield and as previously mentioned it is in a terrible state. I wouldn't want to risk landing there even though it would be much more convenient as I have family 500yds from the end of the runway.
So thanks everybody for all the information provided. I have been lurking here for a while and absorbing the information so it's nice to put it to good use.