Which is kinda romantic to think about. I expect the reality was quite a mixed bag. EVERYONE knew exactly what all your problems were, what your kids were getting up to that they shouldn't have, and everything that you SHOULD have been doing and weren't. Both your friends AND your enemies. And there's a much higher level of social control and huge consequences for stepping outside the agreed upon social norms. Reading the Miss Marple stories - you realise just how much filthbaggery went on in a village. And Jane Austen and Mrs Gaskell's works are full of the consequences of living in a very small social circle that you couldn't escape from.