I did a job on a church in Oxfordshire a few years ago, about 30 mins drive from the motorway - our journey to the church from the junction went through entirely empty rolling fields for the duration of the trip. The only thing we noticed that was unusual were regular posters by the roadside for the local Conservative MP saying: 'Stop the proposed housing development!', with details below on how to contact this chap to do just that. When we arrived at the church at 9.30 we were met by the warden, who gave us the key and left. For the rest of the day, the only human we saw (from the roof) was a lady on a horse who trotted past at lunchtime and waved. We left at 5, and put the key under the mat as the warden said he was still at mega-Sainsbury, but it would be OK as there's 'no-one around' (his words). Certainly no-one used the church, but the repairs included gold leaf for the clock. The view from the top was picture-postcard perfect, but I remember telling my colleague that I wished a complete town could be lowered from the sky like the UFO in Close Encounters.
Our return trip to the motorway was punctuated by endless detours to try and find a 'shop' in one of these godforsaken thatched villages, but there were none whatsoever, apart from a Post Office that was closed. We ended up at mega-Sainsbury, predictably, where a thousand large cars were parked, all the owners doing their mega-shop.
Until we start taking this lot on and ploughing up their pointless postcard fantasy-land, this will just get worse.