Happy Birthday! I have a couple of hardcover books ordered from iFolor.fi (they only deliver to finland so that doesnt help you) one is full of my best work and the other is pictures of my daughter and they both look great.
It was all done online, first you download a small program to design the layout, cover, text etc. then upload the finished layout to them. The book was delivered in about a week. It cost something like 25-30euros.
In fact any photo printing place here can do all manner of photo products, books, mousemats, cups, tshirts etc.etc. I assume you can get the same back in the UK. Actually, im going back home to the Isle of Wight tommorow for a two week holiday, cant wait!!!
So yeah, go for it, its a great idea.
Just make sure the images you want in the book are large enough so they look nice and crisp when printed, at the very least 1200x800.