As others have mentioned, gliders may well be a suitable starting point.
Consider visiting your chosen club and asking to see the cockpit of a training glider. If flying isn't imminent, there's a good chance that someone will be more than happy to explain the controls and instruments to you.
The instruments aren't really necessary anyway! Often, when a student is almost ready to go solo, the instructor will cover up all the student's instruments and have them fly the flight simply by looking out the cockpit and feeling how the aircraft is behaving.