Rural living - who’s done it?

We are considering a shift to a rural location.  DH is a country boy through and through, and I'm a complete townie - if I had it my way I'd be a city slicker.  We knew this about each-other from the start.  Anyway, now that we're parents, I have to admit I want more space around our house - we live in a good-sized renovated villa that's on a section not much larger than the house, surrounded by other houses all snugly sitting around each-other.  Both of us love this house, but not the section - we wouldn't consider re-locating the house though.  Some of the neighbours here can be awful and I've called 111 way too many times from here.  So since I want space for our kids to run and fruit trees and a bigger vege patch & a garden, and since I'm fighting a force I can't overthrow (DH's urge to live in the yukky country), we'll give it a shot.  We've looked at one place so far and are thinking quite seriously about it.  It's 10mins from the outskirts of town, and very near a school that's reportedly an excellent school.  Those who've lived rurally with kids - please, please can you help put my mind at rest about some of the drawbacks? 

I'm worried about feeling isolated there, even though there's houses nearby, about there being no pavement to go stroller-walkies along with my kids (I walk with Ella a fair bit), about not being able to pop to the shops for anything, and about the extra time and expense of the extra travel, especially for any part-time job I have (remember, we live in Palmy - everything is reasonably nearby!).  I love walking to the shops here and that'd be all over.  Also no-one would just pop by for a visit out there - my parents live near us here and mum comes around quite a lot, which has been nice.  Yep, I think we will take the plunge, because you don't know if it'll be OK without trying it, and it might be wonderful.  But crikey I need some advice on how to manage out there, whichever house we go for.