My Cessna goes in and out of 400m without problem and is a very capable tourer. I would not write off a strip just because the don't suit a small minority of aircraft. Hell, I can get the Dornier in and out of 400m grass!!
I can see what you are saying Peter, being an IFR tourist myself it is great to have the long full function airfields but they are serving a small minority and we need to remember that aviation is vastly bigger than you running around in your TB20. For probably 90% of the UK GA flyers 400m is probably a long strip!!
In the end I didn't go because it rained and the place was probably too waterlogged.
Or you made an assumption that cut your nose off to spite your face. The only thing that takes our grass strip out of action is a long period of sustained deluge. We are on top of limestone and it drains within hours. A lot of strips are like this. Some are not, but that is the purpose of PPR?