Congrats HH, glad you made it. Its a great feeling!
Where abouts you fly from in Hampshire?
With carb heat in the circuit I will put it on when I start my descent (so mid-base leg) and will then turn it off whilst doing the CRAP checks at 300ft, unless the conditions dictate otherwise(low cloud/humid etc)
I agree you should err on the side of caution but there are other things you need to think about. You should try and avoid using carb heat on/near the ground as it is not filtered and so can allow all kinds of crap into the engine, and if you need to do a go around then you really should have full power availble instantly and not have to be fumbling with the carb heat switch first.
Just my 2p. Congrats again HH!
