I would Buy a few houses for my family and close friends, quit my job, go on a 12 month holiday and then when i got back to the the UK i would:-
1: Buy some more houses to rent out to people, for imediate income
2: Get some training in house renovation, plumbing and such like
3: buy a house that needed work doing to it, an experianced builder to be site manager and work under him on the house. Sell that house for a huge profit and obtain a sence of achivement.
4: rince repeat untill i could handle it myself, and then go solo untill i got bored.