slight tangent, but have you thought of a permit a/c? I have mine at Biggin. Really reduces the cost of flying if you are planning a lot of hours in a year. lots of types available and shares available as well. The hangar community can be more interesting then flying clubs as well, especially if you are interested in a variety of types of a/c.
Normally a smile and a chat can get you a passenger ride and you might find there are other aircraft for private hire arrangements.
The rest is just my humble opinion, if I insult your favourate airfield - sorry I didn't mean it!
I've operated out of most in the south east and there is not much to choose from, all ATCs and local crew seem to have their 'off' days.
Wouldn't do Redhill 'cause of the state of the runway(s) in most winters and the taxiway can be a bit of a bu@@er, Biggin is expensive especially as the the landing fees start large and get bigger, but to be honest I think that is the same for any hard runway in SE england. Main reason I use it is 'cause it's local.
WW and Headcorn have history and atmosphere, Rochester is a bit bleak. Shoreham tends to get a lot of procedural IFR traffic and can be a nightmare as a result (done the holds at 3000' going around and around and around and ......) Close to the beach though which is always a bonus - shame about the stones ....
Lydd is quiet and inexpensive, has a nice cafe (or it did last time I was there), Manston is a waste of space for visitors only really useful for SRA and PRA practice when the RAF was there (do they still do radar approaches?)
Agree about Fairoaks, definately only want a 'certain' type there and whoever that type was it was not me ... except when I was in a PA32-III ... maybe they only like 'real' aeroplanes ?
Blackbush is reasonable and has Farnborough to hand for weather diverts, nice runway but club house (cabair) was a bit spartan - definately school rather then club.
Futher afield, not been to Stapleford or North Weald, but Denham is an interesting approach in and out, Elstree seems to suffer from more 'off' days then most.
Cranfield is good for a chinese
Right, that's enough of my opinion, now going to hide in the flameproof bunker ......