The more I think about it, the more I think that a refurbished older model or something like the Huawei Mediapad M5 would make more sense for my (limited) use.
Edit: ordered a Huawai M5, case and 128gb memory card for £280 which will be ideal for my regular travels to and from work. I'll maybe get a pro ipad another time should my 8 year old mac air ever stop working but I just couldn't justify £500+ for a device for consuming media, surfing the net and running my drone software.