Country mile

I assume walking a mile on country terrain takes longer than in urban terrain....so a country mile is longer than you might think....can anyone confirm this?

In Britain we use 'a Welsh mile'. Its means much the same and, presumably, comes from the time when country folk walked everywhere. For them a 'mile' was not too far, but for the rest of the world it was a long way!

"Country mile" isn't in any of my reference books. I can imagine another possible origin: the supposed habit of country people of giving optimistically imprecise directions. "Oh, it's just a mile up the road--and you can't miss it."