Wow! What a great response. Thanks for all your comments I am greatly encouraged by the feedback.
Maybe I should defend the instructor to some extent as I gained some good advice along the way. I'll stick to the kit lens until I feel it is a real restriction, which until now I have rarely felt, certainly on wide-angle.
I agree, the first mistake of landscape photography is to try and take in too much and end-up with acres of nothing!
I'll save-up my pennies for some Lee ND grads which I think I need much more.