
If you want the freedom to design your own there are programs to do this such as the one I use Serif Web plus. This one is WYSIWYG, I have a pretty basic site and don't use any of the bells and whistles I could.
You either can get them hosted by your internet service provider, who often give free space as part of your internet package, or you can use something like Awardspace (no adverts), I use both as I ran out of space.
Disadvantage to your Internet provider hosted site is that should you wish to change who your with and everyone knows your website address, or you have stationery made with it, then you'd need to change your website address, or like me stay with an IPS you might prefer to change.
then there are sties like Weebly (know several friends who have one of these dead easy they say) and Bravenet etc who offer you free websites, that are partly predesigned and you fill in the blanks, usually they are limited in number of pages.
Bravenet is great for free tools like a Guestbook, counters etc