Peter,
I think you will find that you will save quite a lot over renting club aircraft if you fly a lot- more than 30-40 hours per year. You will also have a lot better availability as well as probably a more fun aircraft to fly.
Ive not flown many single seaters, although a few people fly them a lot, many get quite low utilisation, maybe because you cant take much with you in many of them. Maybe a better bet is as others have said, to get into a group. As well as reducing the cost, and learning from others, you might find that you can share flying and go further afield with someone else a little more experienced. A Jodel is probably the perfect aircraft for a low time pilot wanting to do a bit of cheap flying around and a bit of touring. But there are plenty of others to choose from depending on what you want.
You should go along to the PFA Mid Kent strut meetings, I think they are near Maidstone, not to far away, there you will meet plenty of people owning and operating permit aircraft. You could also go along to Rochester or Farthing Corner where there are quite a few cheap permit aircraft being operated. I know some of the guys at farthing conrner and they go all over in their Jodels.
Good luck!