I learned at Cambridge Aero Club, as a result of which I'm perfectly happy landing away at a full ATC airport and have to think a bit harder at one without! You do occasionally share the circuit with bizjets, airliners, military aircraft practising or positioning for a Duxford air show, and often with helicopters, which makes things more interesting.
Yes it's not the cheapest school around, but as well as the highly professional training and maintenance you also get, should you care (some do and some don't), new(ish) aircraft with (usually) all the electronics working, rather than forty year old heaps with no working navigation kit.
Going back not that many years, several of the instructors were highly experienced test pilots who did a bit of teaching so as to spend a few more hours in the air and a few less with paperwork, not the sort of training opportunity you usually get. There seem to be fewer such types around these days ... but there's still at least one who comes in at the weekends as a retirement job.