I did my NPPL (SLMG) at Hinton (finished August 2010), and am in the process of adding a SEP rating with the club there.
The SLMG took me around 18 months, and ended up paying slightly more than your figure, but close, as I needed some extra hours. PM me for details.
The CFI has always be up front and as flexible as possible accomodating my changing schedule, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. At times, I was the one who had to be flexible, but hey, your mileage may vary.
I am still not sure which would have been the *best* route to getting my license: at the start I wanted to fly VFR all over the place, Europe, USA etc - but now, the practicality of just bimbling around the midlands and south UK is more than enough to satisfy my flying bug with my limited time.