I did mine at Cardinal Wings at Bowman Field, Louisville KY, USA in 1999/2000.
I was working in Louisville and it was an ideal opportunity to get the FAA IR.
Mine was actually 40+hrs of actual flying in a C172SP (zero sim time) as I was paired up with another student and he sat in the back watching me make a mess of the wind correction in the hold (among other things) for 40 of my flying hours. I also had the pleasure in watching him mess up for 40 hrs.
Also most of the flying time was night because of our various work commitments which made cheating under the hood far less easy.
Nothing prepared me better for actual IFR through tough weather than flying with a retired airline captain.
The IR - another license to learn,
SB