If you’re up in Scotlandshire, I’d probably go full suss if it were me – Comfort is being alluded to with the advice given here already. I’d agree with that, but also point out if you’re blowing your arse out pedalling up a Scottish “hill”, you might find the extra comfort of a full suss bike an advantage as you’ll be able to comfortably sit down whilst plodding along.
Plus the fact full suss bikes flatter riding skills and are generally more forgiving, I “caught the MTB bug” mostly when I found I could throw myself down a welsh hill at serious speed with the bike soaking up a lot of the knocks, something that’s harder to achieve on a hardtail (not impossible, just requires more skill is all).
Anyway, it’s probably all moot because if you do get the bug and you frequent STW you’ll end up with 5 bikes soon enough.
*N+1