> The tavern is within walking/staggering distance of all the houses.

In an agricultural area? How would that work?

Walking distance is longer when you are used to walking all the time.

You build most buildings pretty close together. And then fields around them in all directions. Conceptually farm house in middle of fields was not really how it was done. Maybe for manors, but those were rich enough to drink at home. And their workers build close enough together or in walkable distance.

Sprawling industrial-scale agricultural areas seems to be mostly a product of motor vehicles.

Before that, most farms were run by a family group and the farmhouses were typically within a couple miles of a community center which provided access to a church, school, store/market, inn/tavern, etc. (There were self-sufficient estates and plantations but they seem to be more the exception than the rule.)

For example, the town I live in now was founded more than 250 years ago when the families (mostly farmers) who lived at the outer fringe of their town got tired of having to walk 2+ miles to church and school. So they petitioned the government to split off and then built their own church and school.