I've done both, both here and in the UK and the conclusion I have come to is that although I love the peace and beauty of living rurally and I like the idea of the freedom and space for the kids, the reality for us is that neither of us like commuting (or even having two cars- we really want to change that this year) and neither of us want to wipe out whole weekends tending the section. We currently have a 1/4 acre with chooks, fruit trees and vegetable plot and this is plenty for us. We're in a small town so it's pin-drop silent at night and the stars are bright but my kids can walk to the local pools and all their clubs and hobbies are just round the corner, as well as their friends so I'm not relied on to be a taxi service.
We initially had over a hectare 45mins from the nearest town and though I loved certain aspects, we all prefer the set up we have now, but that's not to say we don't feel nostalgic about our time on our Life Sentence Block