Thanks, Travbikeman!
That Canyon looks nice, but at £750 it's out of budget unfortunately. I think my range is £500-600 new (fat chance of find a used one now). So $600-$725. The potentials are as follows:
Specialized Crosstrail (£575)
Giant Roam 2 (£575)
Trek DS 2 (£525)
Cube Nature (£500)
Whyte Ridgeway (£490)
Marin San Rafael DS2 (£500) / DS3 (£600) (I read that Marin and Whyte had the same designer/owner in the past)
Pinnacle Cobalt 2 (£520)
I know I'm overthinking, that they are all fairly similar, and the smart advice would just be "go and try a couple, pick whichever one feels the best." It's just hard without that option in lockdown!