Thank you everyone for their super valuable input. It does seem like fractional ownership/club is best idea.
For those asking, I've now done 26 hours (I do 2/3 hours a week at the moment), so weather permitting (and of course my ability, testing, etc), I should have my PPL by the end of the summer. As for my planned hours per year, hard to tell, but I intend to fly at least for a couple of hours every couple of weeks, or around 50+ hours a year.
Again, thanks a lot and if anyone has further input, would love to hear it.