A good question, and some excellent advice. I don't have much to add, except for my CPL instructor's hints on how to find short grass strips:
1) It's got to have a runway, so the field must be big enough for a runway (sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed at how often you find yourself looking at tiny fields and wondering if that mown bit is the runway).
2) There will be some sort of building around, probably hangar sized/shaped, probably near the end of the runway, ie nearest the longest length of the field.
3) There will be a road adjoining the field; everyone drives in or out of the airfield, so forget fields with no road access.
4) Find something that fits; then start looking for a windsock.
I was sceptical, but in an area with nothing but fields, where you KNOW there's a strip, it does work.
And finding airfields does seem to be one of those things that just gets easier with experience. Do you want to hear the story of my trying to find Derby, as a very new PPL? It was spring, so I was looking for grass runways with no numbers in the middle of short grass. I not only couldn't see it when I was overhead; I then lost it twice while trying to fly a circuit, and had to be directed all the way round the circuit by a very patient radio operator.
I've been back a few times, with more hours, and found it easily.