As others have said, natural stuff down south is generaly quite dull and featureless.
I think that wins the prize for biggest pile of utter crap I’ve ever read on this forum (and it’s up against some pretty stiff competition!)
Trail centres can be a bit overwhelming for absolute beginners – everyone there on their bikes worth thousands, all the gear, body armour etc, ripping it down the downhills cos they know there’s no walkers round the next corner etc.
A much better bet is to find a nice quiet area of woodland somewhere with a mix of trails and go from there. Swinley Forest (SW of London) for example has a whole host of trails from easy wide fireroad stuff to fast swoopy technical singletrack to jump spots so there’s some nice opportunity for progression, there’s a cafe for when it all gets a bit much and you can find a quiet area with little danger of some weekend warrior hurtling up behind her and scaring her.
Another vote for a skills day though, £40 spent on skills is worth £400 spent on ‘upgrading’ the bike.