Help with town map: ideas for outlying areas

[Lars]

Hi,

I would like some suggestions on how to make the outlying fields on the map below less boring, yet adhere to the overall style and purpose of the map. The city is Arcy (faux-Paris) in a setting chronologically corresponding to the later 16th century.

(The original is 5k x 5k pixels)

As you can see, the map is 100% functional and not artistic in any way (simply because I completely lack such talent!), and supposed to be usable as a player map in a role-playing context. I like it in general, but the outlaying areas are simply too empty. Cropping it is not an option since I want to include the faubourgs.

Slapping on some labels somewhat alleviates the issue, but not completely (and I apologize to all French-speakers for my mix of Google translate and made-up French toponymy).



The obvious answer to my problem is to add cultivated fields outside the city, but I can't find a style in which to do it that I like. The focus of the map is the city itself, so the outlying areas should not distract from that; this means I would prefer to keep whatever is there simple and the colors to a minimum, since the city is simple and all black and white. I tried the following



but weren't too happy with the results. The first one is too greyish, the second too colorful. (Also, there should be some woodland, not only open fields).

Good folks, do you have any helpful suggestions? I keep leaving maps 90 % finished and was hoping to actually complete this one.