Remembering ’76 Posted on August 20, 2026

I’ve just come across my desk diary for 1976, a Country Gentlemen’s Association volume. Here we are in August ‘76, in the year that set new records for drought: “Staying at Derreen (in County Cork) climbed Curraghcreagh; a vertical bog” was one entry. Meanwhile, in 1976, the saplings of our future Saling Hall arboretum shrivelled and my arms grew longer carrying watering cans.

So we’re off to Ireland again.

Hugh’s Gardening Books

Trees

Trees was first published in 1973 as The International Book of Trees, two years after The World Atlas of Wine….

Hugh’s Wine Books

The Story of Wine – From Noah to Now

A completely new edition published by the Academie du Vin Library: When first published in 1989 The Story of Wine won every…

Friends of Trad

John Grimshaw’s Garden Diary