I'll second Rod as well. I did mine in 4 months from start to finish and a month of that was lost to bad weather. It may not suit everyone but I learn best when I'm doing something flat out. I dread to think how long it would have taken me if I had done an hour here and an hour there. It's false economy (IMO obviously) to try and spread the lessons out because of cost. Just bite the bullet, save up or borrow and do it all in one fell swoop. Ther's no getting away from the fact that it's an expensive game so make sure you can finance your post skills test flying as well.
There are plenty of places down your neck of the woods-Kemble springs to mind for one-but I've no idea what the schools are like as I'm oop north. Best of luck with it anyway; I really would go at it hammer and tongs if I were you, you will be surprised how much your flying comes on if you do three or four lessons a week. By the way, you mentioned doing a 10 mile XC? That would hardly take you out of the circuit! Are you sure it's not a XC with ten mile legs?