The hatched pattern of farmland that your describing is something particularly associated with modern farming practices. It's a convenient pattern because it is easy to do and easy for viewers to recognise, but you might want something that looks more realistic/natural. If you want a medieval feel, long narrow strips are good, but can be a bit confusing (try googling 'burgage plots' for some diagrams). Alternatively, you could try something like this: Click image for larger version.  Name: farmland.jpg  Views: 317  Size: 897.7 KB  ID: 56702. It's a tiled pattern I created to use as farmland. One of the biggest advantages about it is that you can easily flip it horizontally and/or vertically to gain two, three, four more patterns.

As for roads, I was also interested in a way to make roads look more interesting/realistic. You could try giving the edges a furrowed look, as though there are ditches or shrubs on either side. If it were me, I'd probably recommend the straightforward line. On a detailed map, it's lack of uniqueness won't show up too much, and it's easiest to do.

Hope those comments help.

EDIT: the image was meant to be turned 90'. It looks better when slightly horizontal.