Hi and pic question from new member!

[Gartmorn]

Hi from sunny(!!!) Scotland. I'm getting back into electronics after quite a few years and have been building the odd basic circuit but would like to get going with pic microcontrollers. I was thinking of getting a PICkit 3 Starter Kit Debugger/Programmer. Is this a good route to get me started? I'm an electrical fitter to trade but have no programming experience!