The Walled Garden draws the viewer deep into Walker's surreal and much-loved world of anthropomorphic countryside life. Set within the quiet, working corner of a traditional English kitchen garden, the painting captures one of Walker's most evocative subjects: the lifelong head gardener, paused mid-labour and leaning gently on the handle of his upright spade. Shaggy and bewhiskered, the unmistakable badger is dressed in the timeless uniform of the seasoned country gardener, wearing a battered black bowler hat, crumpled waistcoat, loose blue work shirt and well-worn grey trousers tucked over heavy brown boots. A long pheasant feather tucked jauntily into his hatband adds a touch of rustic vanity, while a bright-eyed robin perches atop the bowler as though appointed personal foreman for the morning's work.

The setting is instantly recognisable as a traditional English walled garden, its warm red-brick boundary stretching across the background and softened by the bare branches of a young fruit tree reaching up into a pale spring sky. A small arched doorway in the wall hints at further hidden corners beyond, offering that wonderfully British promise of a secret garden waiting to be discovered. Around the gardener's feet the freshly dug earth is rich with purples, umbers and mossy greens, scattered with stones, leaves and the gentle suggestion of newly turned beds. To one side, a cheeky mouse in a red spotted neckerchief peers out from the long grass, one of Walker's recurring supporting cast of woodland characters, while another small creature appears tucked near the spade at the lower edge of the composition, lending the scene that signature touch of mischievous narrative life that collectors of Walker's work have come to adore.