Country Life's top columns and features of 2022
From the characters that inhabit the Highlands to the columnist who got The Queen out of a sticky situation, here are our most popular columns, features and curious questions of 2022.

The ruins 7,000 years older than Stonehenge which overthrow the way we think about our common past
Jason Goodwin visited an ancient site — but he didn't even take his camera. Here's why, and what it told him about what he was seeing.
Smashing vases, feral kittens and putting ice in your wine — Country Life's agony aunt Mrs Hudson on how to deal with the lot
Our much-loved agony aunt is currently on maternity leave; we need her back, and soon. (Keep your eyes peeled this coming summer.)
Asset stripping, helicopters to Gretna Green, drinks all round and land at 5p an acre
Joe Gibbs reminisces about the Dutchmen who made a home in the Highlands — and made quite a splash.
How do you pronounce Belvoir, Featherstonhaugh and Bagehot?
Even simple-looking names like Powell and Coke can trip up the unwary, while Belvoir and Featherstonhaugh are positive linguistic land mines. Eleanor Doughty (Dowty? Dockerty? Dotty?) investigated.
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
‘Hang on — was I just charged 64 quid for some salad, six chicken strips and a quiche the size of a doorknob?’
Lucy Baring headed in to London and felt the cost of inflation.
Curious Questions: Why do we take Christmas decorations down on January 6th?
Our Curious Questions regular columnist Martin Fone took a look at one of the seemingly-arbitrary quirks of the season.
The day I rescued The Queen
Our long-standing contributor Carla Carlisle was lucky enough to meet the Queen. And even luckier to be able to help Her Majesty out of a bit of a spot.
The burial mounds that pre-date Stonehenge by seven centuries
Vicky Liddell did some digging — pretty much literally — into the mysterious existence of barrows.
‘The very idea of stripes on a lawn made my German friend shudder’
Centrepiece of a classic English country garden, or bourgeois construct of the machine age? Our columnist Jason Goodwin took aim at the lawn.
See Country Life's top 10s of 2022
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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Sold, singed and sunk: The sorry tale of Normanton Hall
Few English country houses suffered more than Normanton Hall.
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A Clarkson's Farm of one's own: Five properties with just enough farmland for you and your family, from under £1 million
Moving to the country is one thing; moving to the country and being able to grow and rear all your own food is another level entirely, and all these properties offer exactly that.
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Agromenes: Why is our tax money not being spent on British food?
A Freedom of Information request reveals that many of our local councils and government departments aren't buying British-grown food. It's an insult to our farmers.
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Affordable, sustainable, rural: How a group of volunteers embarrassed the government and built some of the best new homes in the country
Hazelmead has won almost every RIBA award going. The development on the outskirts of Bridport might be a springboard for a rural housing revolution, much like the Arts-and-Crafts movement more than a century ago.
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William Hanson: Why etiquette must evolve to suit modern life
Noodle slurping and the left-handed taboo. The king of modern manners details the evolution of proper conduct in his latest book.
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Athena: In the eyes of Government, will the Arts always be last?
After a year of Labour rule, life doesn't seem to be getting any better for Britain's cultural institutions.
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Agromenes: 'See it. Say it. Sorted. This is truly where Britain is broken'
Country Life's Cultural Crusader rails against the constant annoying reminders of how we should live our lives.
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Will Hosie: I'm bored of West End remakes — risky business should be the norm, not the anomaly
Is the West End becoming a broken record?
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In our built heritage, is the truth stranger than fiction?
Athena considers how our historic buildings are presented in an age of film and television.
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Will Hosie: In defence of gatekeeping and why we have to stop confusing TopJaw with proper critique
Modern audiences expect critics to keep up with the times, but it's always been their job to keep some places under wraps.