winter is not really the best time to do it in the Uk unless you are doing it an an anti/de-iced aircraft as the freezing level in the Uk is so low and the very restrictive nature of our airspace does not allow you to get above it. Also choosing a time that gives you an easy ride may not be the best for real world use. Personally I have yet to fly inside a cloud that I found smooth. (In fact todays cloud was full of lighting and rain!)
The average club spamcan trainer unfortunatly in my experiance does not run to the appropriate icing kit.
This time of year is probably the best time to do the rating especially at the moment where we do not seem to have a shortage of cloud but the freezing level is very high.
Please have a look at the other recent threads on IMC training regarding the time after rating before staring the IMC as I think you will find the consenus is get some experiance as a PPL before going on the instuments.