Nikon also worth considering too, their entry level cameras are very good - I bought a D40 years ago and love it, also very easy to use and chuffin' good pics.
You won't get a bad camera from the likes of Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji etc. so my advise would be to take a trip to your local friendly camera shop (I'd recommend Jessops over Peter Rogers as PR are more specialist - Jessops carry a larger range of entry level cameras) and play with a few. You'll be able to get exactly the same shot, give or take from any camera, so it's all down to how you feel about the user interface and any fancy tricks it can do (for example some cameras can be used with a remote control for tripod work, and some can do panoramic stitching in camera).
If you're not looking to go down the DSLR route then there are some fantastic bridge cameras out there - although you can pay as much for them as you would for a basic DSLR kit and lose some of the flexibility DSLR offers you in the long run.
My old man ('s a dustman) has a Fuji bridge and it's bloomin' brilliant.
My personal recommendations, based on having used these actual cameras is as follows (in no particular order):
Nikon D5000 - Superb entry level DSLR camera, works with the Nikon F mount lenses, comes with the usual 18-55 but a 70-300 sigma can be had on ebay for sub £150. I have one and they're fantastic tbh.
Nikon P500 - Fantastic bridge type camera - no interchangeable lenses, but offers 36x zoom and has some pretty trick features like a tilt screen.
Fuji Finepix S4000 Again, bridge camera, but much cheaper than the above models. Don't let that put you off, my dad has one and it's bloody brilliant. I'm always impressed at what he manages to get out of it, and being the biggest technophobe I know it must be simple to use!
I don't know much about Canon cameras so I'm sure someone here will be along soon to tell you about them in detail - but I know you won't get a bad camera from canon either.
I would avoid the Nikon D3000, I had one for a shoot and was unimpressed at it's low light capabilities compared to the D40, D60 and D5000. It has all the features you would expect and takes great quality photos but the low light (i.e. normal indoors use, I'm not talking ghost hunting dark) the high ISO (sensitivity) settings were grainy and suffered with poor contrast.
Ultimately, if it was my £400 I'd be ordering a Nikon D5000 + 18-55mm Kit lens now and a 4GB Sandisk Ultra III SD card.
Hope this helps.