Depends on the quality of the arrows - "proper" medieval style arrows made up with bound goose feather flights on a cedar shaft with a horn nock and a hand-forged broadhead would probably start from £12 and could be £20 per arrow for the very best examples, while a piece of dowel with turkey feathers and a self nock with a mod-bod head could be knocked out at about £3 each. Even then, a couple of dozen is still £72 of useful practice arrows.lidimy wrote: BTW, got back to the long bow boy today, he said that the £390 covered the bow, a few spars strings, case, and a few dozen metal tipped arrows too. Does that sound more reasonable...?
Strings are generally fairly cheap (£5-10?), especially if you know someone who will make one for you, and a linen case is maybe £10 to buy, so you're still looking at £300 or so for the bow in the worst case. I've seen a very nice yew bow sold for £250 new (but plenty at £500+), and some very good composite construction longbows at £120-140, so it all depends on what you want and how much you're prepared to pay to get it.
For someone starting out, I'd recommend a cheapish composite bow. There are any number of suppliers who can do you something usable, but I'd recommend Bickerstaffe as long as you avoid the exotics such as Purpleheart:
http://www.bickerstaffebows.co.uk/
Paul.