Why is the English countryside so unwelcoming? Last weekend we all went off to Oxford to test out the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History, this year's Best Family Friendly Museum Award winners (theguardian.com/kidsinmuseums). We thought we'd stop off on the way at a country pub for a bit of fresh air and full lungs. But despite clutching a copy of the excellent Oxford For The Under Eights, one of a number of local guides written by local parents, we called in on four different villages before finding somewhere that could (or would) serve us all Sunday lunch. (A list of local guides written by parents is available on deabirkett.com.)

I'm not the only one that finds the Great Green Beyond less than friendly. I've had quite a few messages from readers complaining that the jovial British rural landlord isn't quite so jovial when they turn up with children in tow. Alice and Ben Crawford, plus grandfather and kids, were thrown out of an inn in the Teign Valley, in deepest Devon, which had a British Hospitality Award, because it only fed families if they had booked in advance.

I admit I'm a big city person born and bred, but I do find the attractions of the countryside for children exaggerated. Walking in to a thatched horseshoe-decorated hostelry with three young kids is a bit like walking into a western movie; a menacing silence falls over the bar. And what's the point in all that lovely open space if you can't access it? Whenever we try and find a field to run across, it's fenced off or ploughed up. The longest free run my kids have is across our local central London park.

But still we doggedly pursue that warm welcome we believe the countryside offers. I only wish that the countryside would live up to our image of it.

· Please post tips and queries on the Travelling with Kids Forum at deabirkett.com.