The actor has played many classic roles and his love of film is clear in his garden, from the Saltburn proscenium arch to the pergola where Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd have partied the night away
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tep into Richard E Grant’s garden in Richmond, London, and you’ll be met with a rather unconventional sight. Instead of the daffodils and tulips you’d usually find in an English garden at this time of year, Grant’s space is full of props and decorations from the films he’s starred in – from Saltburn to Carrie Cracknell’s 2022 adaptation of Persuasion.
After any job, he says, “I go to the production department and try and buy or bribe my way” to get pieces to put in his garden. The space has, until now, been a private spot for Grant to entertain his actor friends. But now he has shared it with the world as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s new podcast, Roots. I took a look around it – here are some of the weird and wonderful things that can be found there.
Behind a hedge and next to a wooden bench is something fans of Emerald Fennell’s 2023 hit Saltburn will recognise instantly. “At the end of the film,” Grant says, “there was a big outdoor party scene for Barry Keoghan’s character’s birthday, and I said, ‘Could I possibly buy that?’” The production department said no at first. “They said, ‘It’s all going to be scrapped and dumped because storage costs too much.’ So I said, ‘Could I have it in the garden?’” And they gave it to him for free.
