There is a lot of fascination in tracing one's family tree. Some people are very interested in seeing whether they related to someone famous, a pirate, or even a murderer, and get excited what they find, whether is it good or bad. Of course, to get a professional company to do this you means you to spend hundreds of pounds, but you can do a lot of it yourself.
First, it is a good idea to ask your grandparents and parents about brothers and sisters, mother and father, and on. You will be suprised how information they can give you, and you might be able to go back two or three generations. Concentrate on just one surname, not three or four. If, for example, you have the name your father's grandparents, and know they were married, you visit the church and have a look at their records. This would give you their parents' names and occupations.
Tracing your roots to require a lot of legwork and running around, but now the Internet is a rich source of information as so many Parish and other records have computerised, and are easily accessible. The history of surnames, first names and place names, as well as discovering if you are entitled use a family crest, are all available the Net and, even if you are not going to trace your family tree, finding out what your surname means, where originated from and old it is, is a lot of fun.