One of the key ideas in human geography that you must study for your GCSE is the rural environment. In order to understand the pressures on ecosystems and human beings, it is important that you are aware of the main characteristics of rural areas, mainly those of the UK, including the resources they provide.
You may well have seen diagrams showing the different types of rural area, starting with the urban area as the 'bullseye'. At the edge of any urban area there is the rural/urban fringe. This is characterised as being an area where housing and the countryside mingle together. In effect, you could travel along a road in this area and within a few minutes of going in one direction, you are in the countryside but a few minutes in the other direction, you are in town.
Surrounding this is the commuter belt. This is characterised by villages with expensive housing surrounded by farmland.