Good evening

I'm after some advise please on a good but cheap PIC starter kit. What would you recommend for a beginner? I want to build up to designing and building a temp sensor (possibly LM35) circuit for a college project.

 

A PICkit2 or 3 plus a 18F series PIC e.g. 18F1320, 2525 or 4620 depending on how much I/O you're after.

 

There are PICit-2 clones out there which perform well.
You most likely will find more code examples for the 16 series 16f628 etc.
Which are nice to get the experience, but if going with assembly programing I would suggest migrating to the 18f later on.
The code is easily transportable.
Check the Nigel Goodwin Tutorial site for a start, and Download the MPLAB S/W.
I had assembler experience with the old Intel 8085 and Digital PDP-8 and that was the route I went.
Max.

 

Which compiler you are planing to use...?
In my opinion, use mikro c since you are a starter...... after you getting familiar with it... switch to hi tech c...
MikroC helps you to program pic without much hardware knowledge.... but it is less efficient... so switch to hi tech c.. when you are familiar with microcontroller programming..
The following links helped me a lot.. I should help you too
PIC Microcontroller MikroC Pro Tutorials
PIC Microcontroller Hi-Tech C Tutorials
As you said it is better to start with a Digital Thermometer using LM35 temperature sensor... try the following link.. it should help you..
Digital Thermometer using PIC Microcontroller and LM35
Hope that these links help you...
Go to these links to download trial versions of MikroC and Hi-Tech C.
MikroC
Hi-Tech C
If you wish to make a PICKit2 clone.. try the following link.. It is a simplified version of PICKit2... which removes all the unnecessary features like Programmer To Go function.. .and it replaces all the available components with. .commonly available ones... I made this one.. It works fine...
USB PIC Programmer - PICKit2