Country Life's best Instagram posts of 2022
Our Instagram feed @countrylifemagazine has proven enormously popular over the years, and it's a real joy finding the best images to share with you.

So we thought it would be a nice idea to share some of the most beautiful with you.
We've gone through month-by-month to pick out the best — most on the basis of the number of 'likes' they received, but also with a few favourites of the editorial team here at Country Life.
We hope you enjoy what follows — and if you don't already, then please follow us on Instagram @countrylife.
January
A snowy hair helped us see in the New Year, while we also shared some of the wonderful work being done on rescuing and restoring the images in the Country Life Picture Archive. We also saw a huge response to the 'Crooked House' in Lavenham, Suffolk, which featured on the front cover on January 12 — and an equally wonderful response to the glorious wintry picture of St Thomas a Becket Church on Romney Marsh, Kent.
February
Proof that black squirrels can be just as intriguing as their red cousins, a breathtakingly beautiful cloister made famous by the Harry Potter film adaptations, the joy of the West Country summed up in one image — and an unashamedly sentimental image we shared on Valentine's Day.
March
A picture of the Isle of Purbeck graced the magazine's cover at the beginning of March, becoming both one of our favourite covers of the year and one of our best posts. But close behind were the adorable wire-haired dachshund puppies in a record-breaking litter of 12. You have no idea how long it took the photographer to get them all in a row...
April
Country Life always sits at the apex of nature and human endeavour, and the prettily-framed doorway and picture of Corfe Castle show this beautifully. Yet the Easter bunny (one of a 'fluffle') and the waterfowl catching a ride with their mother were even better.
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May
More inquisitive animals — including the border terriers who were up for one of the biggest awards in magazine publishing — sat alongside 'wisteria hysteria' in May. But it's the incredible picture of the custom-made bus created to pass through a medieval arch which probably raised the greatest number of eyebrows.
June
When we started the month with Jubilee celebrations for The Queen, little did we know that before long we'd be commemorating Her Majesty in a very different way. Yet looking back now you can still feel the warmth and joy of the celebrations that kicked off the summer.
July
Our single most-liked post of the year was the portrait of HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as she was back then — the image which graced the issue of the magazine guest-edited by the Queen Consort. And the photographer? None other than the Princess of Wales. Other images from the guest-edit were also popular, not least the look at the house where a young Camilla used to play while visiting her grandparents.
August
A blaze of wisteria in the blazing heat of the last summer proved a hit in August, as did an image that is surely one of the prettiest houses we've featured all year Admington Hall, in Warwickshire.
September
The insouciant face of a Sealyham Terrier began the month, but within days the world changed, and to a great extent was put on pause, as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II passed away. We can only hope that images we shared — of the events as they happened, the reaction, the funeral, and the memories of Her Majesty — conveyed some of what people around Britain and the world were feeling at the death of so great a figure in our history.
October
The heat of summer and wetness of the start of Autumn made for a memorable blast of orange, yellow, red and brown in the leaves of our trees as the season turned. We also found time to share an extraordinary real-life 'ghost' story which a pair of Country Life photographers found themselves at the centre of a century or so ago.
November
Anyone expecting sympathy for their hard work in trimming a hedge will need to think again after seeing our second-best post of November. Only The King on the occasion of his 74th birthday proved more popular.
December
We'd never suggest putting together a Country Life bucket list — we can't help but feel they're the sort of things that tempt Fate — but if we were, then owning a beautiful puppy and equally delightful library would both be on there.
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
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Robin Hood's seaside getaway, and who appears on the £20 note?
Our daily quiz features one of the most beautiful spots in Britain... but where is it?
By Toby Keel Published
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A glorious 17th century home in one of the most exclusive waterside villages in Britain
Orchard House was lucky not to have been sunk beneath the surface of Rutland Water when it was created in the 1970s — but it did, and today this wonderful spot is looking better than ever.
By Toby Keel Published
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Dawn Chorus: The perfect job for incurable romantics, Britain's rudest roads, woodland workshops and spring in Cornwall
Living on a near-deserted island, and getting paid for the privilege? No wonder tens of thousands of people were keen.
By Toby Keel Published
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That hammering you hear? It's actually the sound of Spring
Woodpeckers are guardians of ancient broad-leaved woodlands, busy ecosystem engineers and keen consumers of ant porridge.
By Vicky Liddell Published
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Curious Questions: Will the real Welsh daffodil please stand up
For generations, patriotic Welshmen and women have pinned a daffodil to their lapels to celebrate St David’s Day, says David Jones, but most are unaware that there is a separate species unique to the country.
By Country Life Published
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Simon Jenkins: 1,000 miles of giant pylons 'would be the most intrusive invasion of the nation’s rural landscape since the Second World War'
The Government’s plan to cover the countryside in ugly pylons with seemingly no regard for aesthetics must be vigorously challenged
By Simon Jenkins Published
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Nobody has ever been able to figure out just how long Britain's coastline is. Here's why.
Welcome to the Coastline Paradox, where trying to find an accurate answer is more of a hindrance than a help.
By Martin Fone Published
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Why are humpback whales flocking to the UK?
Humpback whales are typically infrequent visitors to the Cornish coast, but this year they've been spotted in increasing numbers in the South-West, the Isles of Scilly and as far up the Channel as Sussex.
By Rosie Paterson Published
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Dawn Chorus: The beavers who built a £1 million project for free, and Alexa Chung's new Barbour collection
By Toby Keel Published
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'The ultimate one-billion star hotel' — and it doesn't cost a penny to stay
Lewis Winks makes the case as to why the right to wild camp on Dartmoor is vital for us all.
By Lewis Winks Published