I'd get a Canon Powershot S95, no question. Think they're about £230. They're compact, have a great interface, brilliant picture quality, can shoot HD videos and should you want to have more manual control in the future with it, that's available with a neat control system.
Don't be tempted by something with "more megapixels" in the hope it will make your photos better. Unless you're doing A3 or larger prints, around 8 megapixel is more than enough. Higher megapixel counts will tend to make a camera perform worse in low light, it's the lens that's much more important and the S95's is excellent.