I own my own aircraft (3 at the moment) and i would say do whatever you can to own it youself, I have seen lots of pilots get their licences and then just disapear due to the cost/inconvenience of club plane flying. we are always poping to spain etc for the weekend in groups of 4 or 5 planes. its a good adventure every time!
if you pick the right type of plane depreciation can be very low. RVs are good value to buy, (you can get a just finished one for 60-70K) they dont depreciate and tour better than any of the club planes (170kts is easily achieveble in the cruise) I Loved my RV6 so much i have just ordered an RV8 to build.
you could buy a CTSW (microlight) or CTLS (group A) there are about 8 of these at our field (oops 7, one is up a tree
) and the last one i saw sell at 16 months old sold for a good profit over new. they cruise at 100+ knots, 1000 miles range and very cheap to run. or an Ikarus C42 (not as fast) but they do a cheap float set for them that is easily removable)
You have just got to look and think outside the box a bit. Your not far from Damyns Hall (EGML) by the Dartford crossing. pop in and someone will take you for a ride in any of the recommended planes above.
Dave