I have just renewed mine and opted for a full weekend with the aforementioned Tom Hughson up at Norwich, he certainly put me through the mill but bloody good fun and I certainly came away exhausted afterwards! You dont have to do it this way if you shoot the approaches yourself within 6 months as its self certifying but I just love pain
Gonewest - you may want to read the thread in 'Wannabes' as the rating is actually very usful now - the goalposts have been moved. You now get credit for holding an ICAO foreign IR rating!!! No point spending £12k on one here anymore!!!
And if you arent going that far up the ratings ladder its still useful as you can get hold on N reg hire aircraft and file IFR outside UK airspace such as during trips to France, not all of us fly in circles round the local airfield.
Julian.