Hello Baker2125.
Make sure you do get started this summer.As Uncle Jaffa says get some lessons with a surf school then you don't have to start out buying a board as you will use theirs. The nearest surf school to you would be Joss Bay, which is down in Kent. However there is rarely any surf there (I've always wondered how the surf school manages to remain open!) once you are more comfortable the most consistent surf nearest to you is East Wittering (just outside Chichester) and Shoreham-on-Sea which is a little way along the coast from Brighton. Failing that great way to start would be to book yourself into one of the myriad camp sites in Cornwall and grab a weeks worth of lessons which will have you comfortably riding the white water in no time!
Good luck with and have fun, perhaps I'l lsee you in the water at Witterings some time?