I'm not too sure about fees - its all so up in the air at the mo. If you have a good project idea there's nothing to stop you self funding, at the mo the fees at my uni are about £3.5k. And have a look at the unis you prefer - there'll be departmental PhD funding competitions - if you see one you think you could apply for, then approach a potential supervisor at the uni and enter one of the competitions :-)
Also the research councils e.g. ESRC, EPSRC and others offer funding, as well as certain charities.
What I would say is that your age shouldn't stop you doing it - you can clearly use a forum which is well beyond my parents' (aged 62) abilities!