I st holiday outside UK but where?

I always like France - Dordogne, Normandy, the Landes - wherever!! You could go by Eurostar to Paris which would be lovely.
Switzerland is lovely but pricey - or how about one of those 3 centre hiolidays that I have seen advertised e.g. "Prague, Vienna and Budapest" (usually around £700-800 a head)
Not a lot of people think of Germany but it is very beautiful - the Rhine valley or the Baltic and the lifestyle is wonderful.
Or not too far from home, Eurostar to Belgium and Bruges which is beautiful and /or Brussels.
So many lovely places to choose from. Lucky you!

Some good advice there Ariadne but perhaps driving abroad on a first trip might be a little daunting? (it would be for me, but perhaps grannot is made of sterner stuff!)

The Canary Islands might be worth a look (there are still some relatively unspoilt locations) and I have friends with no language skills who like Malta.

Oh, such a choice! Choose somewhere where you will feel comfortable, first of all. I would suggest somewhere in the USA but it might be beyonfpd your budget. But if you could stretch to it, then Colorado, or Vermont, not the glitzy places.

Barcelona is wonderful, specially if you can hire a car and explore a little, or what about Italy - Lake Garda, or Como. If you take a package tour you can opt out of all the excursions and so on, but still have to security of the package.

This is a very quick personal set of ideas. We travel a lot, and I'd be happy to talk to you an a pm!