Not for points Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature

Hello. I'm translating fragments of a novel titled "El dueño de las sombras" from Spanish to English as part of my master's thesis and I am having trouble with this specific term.

The sentence where the term in question appears is the following: "Era la ventaja de vivir en un lugar pequeño donde todos se conocían."

For context, the story takes place in Spain, specifically the comarca Las Cinco Villas. In this part of the story, a group of kids, who live in the town of Layana, are looking to convince their father to let them go to a celebration on a nearby town in the comarca, Ejea de los Caballeros, on their own. One of their arguments is that they would hitch a ride back with somebody they knew, as that was one of the perks of living in a "lugar pequeño."

I thought of "small town," but quickly discarded it since I'm pretty sure the "lugar pequeño" doesn't mean the town (be it Layana or Ejea de los Caballeros), but the general area on Las Cinco Villas where those towns are located. I also thought of "small area," but it doesn't convince me because it doesn't sound idiomatic ("one of the perks of living in a small area"). Finally, I am considering "small rural area," which I think sounds better and fits because the towns of Layana and Ejea de los Caballeros are rural.

Any thoughts or other possibilities would be appreciated.