Say for example your destination was Caernarfon just west of Snowdonia with an MSA of 4,800ft. If there was a low cloud base would you still be able to land there?
First - go do some reading. CAP393 (ANO and Rules of the Air) Rules 28 to 32. Minimum Height Rule especially
If you were over the sea, and knew you were over the sea, then no reasons why you shouldn't descend to 1000ft amsl.
The beauty of the IMC rating is it gives you
options. If you can't get into the original destination (for example, Caernarfon) there's nothing to stop you :
a) asking Valley for an instrument approach and then, once VMC below continuing VFR to destination
b) if the weather is that bad that you can't achieve the above then you just land where you did the instrument approach and continue to original destination by road.
It also gives you reduced VFR minima, and allows you to fly on top - both extremely handy.
As for 'dropping into the circuit' - if you get down to 1000ft above the airfield and you still can't see the ground then - how much further are you prepared to descend? How do you know what the cloudbase is? Are you certain you know the surrounding terrain sufficiently well to continue lower?
CFIT will always be a killer
