Owned a home in the suburbs which was paid off, by having luck in buying and reselling a previous home in propitious economic times. Sold that home and used the equity to purchase a 75 acre farm with an old farmhouse and some outbuildings on it. Both my wife and I (no kids) managed to find local part time jobs that provide us with adequate, though greatly reduced incomes. I have since retired (at age 56) but my wife continues to work 21/2 days a week. We manage to provide ourselves with the basic necessities by growing a large amount of the food we consume and living unextravagantly, but wanting for very little.
The rural land values you quote reflect, I presume, the ratio of land to population in the UK. One thing that we have here in Canada is the opposite ratio which makes rural land more affordable and accounts for the large number of European immigrants who are purchasing local farms.
Good luck to you - where there's a will there's a way.