sj is held on an large all weather arena, can seem a bit intimidating as there is a covered walk way along side with hanging baskets etc but from what I remember the courses are fair and not too technical.
XC is pretty straight forward. IMO I would rate it as a good first time event.
Lovely straightforward XC course (although the start can be a bit sticky). The ground can get very hard although the organisers do their best.
SJ can be spooky, but they do a lot of show jumping there so you could always go for a bit of a practice! Actually the intro course was well designed last time with no jumps going directly toward the spooky side.