Hubby and I lived in a village for a couple of years before we moved to the next town further out where we could afford to buy our own house. Charmingly it was called Little End ... and all it had was two pubs and a factory! At the time I didn't drive so whilst hubby gave me a lift either two or from work, the other way was a one hour bus ride and a two mile walk. That was my motivation to learn to drive.
Apart from the price of houses, we moved away because we wanted to bring our children up somewhere where they wouldn't be dependent on us to get them everywhere. Little End had one bus an hour between 10am and 4pm or some such thing.
Mind you, back in the 70s my aunt and uncle moved from London to a Norfolk village with nothing but a small village shop. There was one bus on a Tuesday to Downham Market and one bus on a Thursday to King's Lynn. It was a little place called Beachamwell if anyone knows it.