# Adventure and obsession: orchid hunting in the 1930s

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-english-heritage-podcast-1111199/adventure-and-obsession-orchid-hunting-in-the-1930s
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-english-heritage-podcast-1111199/adventure-and-obsession-orchid-hunting-in-the-1930s.md
Podcast: [The English Heritage Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-english-heritage-podcast-1111199)
Published: 2026-01-15T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/EHE6513855998.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/EHE6513855998.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-english-heritage-podcast-1111199/episodes/adventure-and-obsession-orchid-hunting-in-the-1930s
Duration seconds: 2397

## Resource

From steamy jungles and boiling mud pools to a bathroom aboard a luxury yacht, this is a plant story like no other. Sir Stephen and Lady Virginia Courtauld weren’t just art deco tastemakers; they were globe-trotting orchid obsessives, chasing rare blooms across Southeast Asia in the 1930s and (legally!) bringing them home against the odds. Joined by English Heritage’s Dr Andrew Hann and gardener-researcher Hannah Pearson, Amy Matthews follows the Courtaulds’ trail through diaries, photographs and maps, uncovering a tale of privilege, passion and peril. Along the way, orchids are dealt, gifted, bombed, evacuated and lovingly preserved through war, displacement and decades of change. It’s a story of people and plants and how a collection of extraordinary flowers travelled the world and were conserved through conflict for the benefit of the world today Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show. Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠ Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.* Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠ The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales. *Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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## Transcript

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