Empty countryside in CoL?

Broke down and got the pack over the weekend, couldn't resist the British charm - it strikes an inner chord - and the animals. It's been huge fun so far, taken up way more time than intended, and is amazingly beautiful - even for TS4, The amount of territory a sim can wander through in the rural sections is impressive, seemingly endless. It also feels empty. Lots to see, but very little to interact with other than the swimmable rivers (Yea!), a fishable pond with benches, and a couple of places where one may buy seeds. On the Henford side I've so far found 2 blueberry bushes, 1 rabbit stump, and a lot of empty if green acreage. The season is summer. Is such emptiness typical? I wonder if it's due to Seasons limiting what's available, the gardening glitch that reduces plants to nothingness, or if that is the intention. That much land should have a lot more than 2 blue berry bushes, as in more of those and more varieties. I know the UK has fruit trees, so where are they? What about wild herbs and veggies? Rabbits and birds should be plentiful in such rural settings.

At long last we finally have something that feels almost like TS3 style open world, but why bother to go out there if there's nothing to find and do?

Thoughts from those of you who have been playing this a while are welcome.