20/01/2026
Every tree in her garden has a name—and a story of someone she loved.
Dame Judi Dench has a tradition that turns grief into something living.
At her home in Surrey, England, she plants a tree whenever someone close to her passes away. Over the years, this simple act has grown into a peaceful six-acre woodland filled with the memories of people she has loved and lost.
The tradition began decades ago with her husband, the actor Michael Williams. Together, they would plant a tree each time a friend or family member died. When Michael himself passed away in 2001, Judi planted an oak in his honor—and it remains her favorite tree in the garden to this day.
Since then, she has continued the tradition on her own.
There is a silver birch for Stephen Hanley, an actor she worked with at the National Theatre. She once said of that tree: "It's just like him—he was very tall and pale, and it's lovely."
There are trees for Ian Richardson and Natasha Richardson. For her brother Jeff. For Robert Hardy. And most recently, a crabapple tree for her dear friend, Dame Maggie Smith.
Each tree represents a life. A relationship. A story that refuses to end.
"It is about remembering," Judi has said. "And for me, it's something that's living and goes on. The memory goes on—and gets more wonderful."
What makes this even more beautiful is what she discovered while filming a documentary about her woodland. Scientists told her that trees communicate through an underground network of roots and fungi—a connection sometimes called the "wood-wide web."
When she heard this, she lit up.
"When I planted trees in memory of my friends, I always hoped they'd be part of a community—that they would be communicating with each other," she said. "It's so reassuring to find out that's true."
For Judi, her forest is not a graveyard. It is a family reunion that never ends.
"I see my trees as my extended family," she once said. "My life now is just trees. Trees and champagne."
Some people leave behind photographs. Some leave letters.
Dame Judi Dench has left behind a forest—where love keeps growing, season after season, long after goodbye.
~Humans of Club
