Outside the main urban centres, it is fairly easy to trace the steady increase in prosperity of the aristocracy and in some cases the rise to a better standard of living for the peasantry. The effect of Romanisation on the British people, certainly in the South of the province was profound, and although it takes a century and more in some cases, still it cannot be denied that the mercantile gains and opportunity for enrichment that life as part of the Empire brought with it, were the goals at which the farmers and craftsmen in rural areas aimed.

Starting immediately in the close surrounding area of the Coloniae, the State awarded "allotments", or Centuriations to veterans. Whilst nowadays there is no evidence for this chessboard like pattern of land division visible due to expansion of the towns in modern times, Tacitus tells us of the expropiation of Trinovantian lands, which is probably the main grievance during their alliance with the Iceni during the Boudiccan rebellion.

However, in the close surrounding countryside, there are no villas, so it is also just as possible, indeed, likely, that Romanised British nobles and retired soldiers that could afford to, held farms in the vicinity, but continued to live within the town or city.

Moving out into the countryside, two patterns emerge. The peasant villages and farms common to the Celts still carried on much as before, utilizing the round huts and field systems common to the period, but also we see the emergence of a better class of dwelling. Some of the peasantry, cashing in on the needs of the army, began to prosper. In a lot of cases, the army paid very favourable prices for grain and meat, and the farmers began to increase and enlarge their holdings. Rectangular houses of half timber construction began to appear during the late first century, as farmers and their households started to change their habits from an arable system, in many cases switching altogether from plantation farming to livestock farming. The demands of a growing population and a large and hungry army were responsible for a boom in the rural areas of the province.

By the Flavian period, Villas were beginning to spring up, most of which consisted of just one main building, usually the rectangular type, but steadily they were converted to "Winged corridor" Villas, that is, two adjoining buildings were built at right angles to the original one, one at each end, with a corridor connecting them. Bath houses were being added at the same time, sometimes contained within the villa itself, but more and more as separate buildings, as at the Villa at Gadebridge Park, almost 9km from Verulamium.

Three other villas in the Verulamium vicinity show us the changing prosperity of their owners, Park Street, Gorhambury and Lockleys. All three are built on top of earlier Celtic settlements, and it is interesting to note that even the earliest Roman type building at Park Street is some four times bigger than the earlier Belgic settlement is built upon. The first and third of these three date from the third quarter of the first century, and show that within a short time, the native populace was beginning to increase his wealth due to the army's needs.

Although it became more and more profitable to raise livestock; sheep, cattle and swine, the South still provided a large amount of the crops that fed the province. The soil in the South was much more rich and amenable to large planting than it was in the Northern, mountainous country. The villa and estate owners cleared large amounts of forest, timber being in massive demand throughout Britain's provincial status for huge building projects. The cleared land was ploughed and cultivated, thus increasing the owner's capital gain, and allowing him to improve his estates, which we see happening steadily to almost every estate known.

One of the largest and best examples is Woodchester, near Gloucester, this villa probably started as a simple building which accommodated both humans and animals, but which grew as the owner became more wealthy. Wings and a bath complex were added during the second century, by it's size at the time there must have been a large staff of slaves or labourers present. By the fourth century, the wings had been extended on both sides so as to embrace a courtyard. The staff had had their own buildings erected in and around this courtyard, complete with their own bath house. The domestic staff and agricultural workers that must have been present show just how wealthy the Romanised native nobles could become.

Interestingly, one large area where there is a notable lack of villas is the Fenland area of Norfolk. We know there were large settlements and farmsteads in the district, dealing with stock farming mainly, due to the high silt and salt content in the soil. Large tracts of the area were drained off, and small villages began to appear, probably beginning where people began to separate the salt from the water. Several brine boilers have been found in the area, enough to suggest that it was a major occupation in the Fens. That the State built many aqueducts here, especially the famous Car Dyke, is testament to the importance attached to the Fens.