Gliding is for those who are time rich and cash poor.
and single and looking (though they will prob99 be looking for quite a while; internet dating is going to be a whole lot more productive)
PPL training is much more fun if you do it as scenario-based i.e. flights to different places and mix the training into that. I am "training" my 14 year old plane-crazy son now and hopefully by 17 he will know "everything" (unless he gets into girls) and then, EASA permitting, I will send him to USA (SoCal) for a FAA+JAA PPL and an FAA IR.
The problem with scenario-based training is that it costs a lot more; your £8k average PPL will probably cost £12k. I know of businessmen who did their IR in this way.