A visit to Dame Judi Dench’s garden in Surrey is bittersweet. The 2.4-hectare (six-acre) plot contains enough trees – about 100 – to count as an arboretum. Among them is a carpet of wild garlic and a wildlife pond from which rabbits like to sip. But each of these trees represents someone she knew who has died. As her eyesight has nearly gone, Dench, who features in the latest episode of the Royal Horticulture Society’s new podcast, Roots, navigates her way around the garden via memories and smell. Here, she shares her stories of the garden and discusses the items that mean the most to her.
A young oak tree for her husband
Dench was married to the actor Michael Williams for 30 years before he died of lung cancer in 2001. She is about to plant a young oak tree, sent to her by her daughter, Finty, and her grandson, Sammy, in commemoration of their wedding anniversary. “It was just a little kind of stick when it arrived. And now it’s full of buds at the top,” she says. “So, when we’re all together, probably in the next few weeks, we’ll choose a place to plant it.”
A swimming pool
All her family are keen swimmers, Dench says, and they “make great use” of the pool on the lawn. She takes laps regularly.
A white garden
An area of the garden comprises white flowering plants, which is another way in which the actor remembers her husband. “He would plant things and he decided that should be the white garden,” she says. “He’s present in the garden.” The space also contains beautifully scented white lilac trees, which are her favourite.
A memorial woodland
Dench is passionate about trees; one of her earliest memories is lying in her pram looking up at the leaves of an oak. She has spent years campaigning to protect trees and woodlands. Each tree has personal meaning. “This magnolia is Dingo, who was a friend of my brother’s who was at school with him,” she says. “He was always in our house.
“There are so many people here. I have over 100. That’s a lot of people to have lost, but that’s what happens when you get to 91, I guess.”
A wildlife pond
Dench says it’s wonderful to watch the wildlife in her pond. “We see a lot of it in this garden,” including water voles and “a great many ducks”, deer, rabbits and a badger.
Wild garlic
Dench loves the wild garlic that carpets her garden. “I can smell garlic around me at the moment,” she says. “In a few weeks, it’s just one mass of white flowers. It’s very, very beautiful. I went out to our local farm shop last year and saw a packet of it for quite a price. And I thought: oh, hello, I’ve got a business!”
Queen Victoria
A severe-looking statue of the monarch rises imposingly from a hedge. Dench says she took it home as a souvenir from the set of the 2017 film Victoria & Abdul, in which she played the queen. “After the film, the film company said: ‘Would you like her?’ And I said: ‘Do you know, I think I would. I’ve got a very good place for her.’ And indeed I have, because she’s not seen by anybody. She’s very private.”
Dench refuses to garden, as she has a phobia of worms. “It comes from being at my kindergarten school in York. A worm jumped into my sandal and I couldn’t get it out.” She has a gardener called Joe, “who does it beautifully”.