can you be a little more specific in your location? i can think of several newcastles and not all in the same countries :-D
i would suggest that you read everything in your library, everything here, join a beekeeping club if there is one around, and/or look for a mentor. if it is your winter, you have time to get educated, but not to much time before you need to decide on how you are going to get bees. if you buy, you will need to order late winter in most places. if you are going to swarm catch, you have until spring....
if you really want to start this spring, i'd suggest that you look into buying. a couple of nucs would be good, but packages are fine. you can have some extra equipment on hand in case you get lucky and can get swarms also.
welcome...BTW ;)