Both (Sir Stephen and Lady Virginia) loved the sun — and Africa — and spent a long time looking for a lasting home, promising warm sunny days. From the Cape to Cairo they searched the continent for a fitting site until, at the end of the 1940s, they flew over the lush, green Imbeza Valley, near Penhalonga, La Rochelle.

Sir Stephen’s father was a skilled horticulturalist and it was from him that the Courtaulds fascination with all forms of flora, particularly in orchids and roses, was inherited. The Courtaulds started, with the help of UK horticulturist John Henry Michell, a unique botanical garden covering 20 ha with exotic plants and trees collected all over the world.

Wild bushlands were carefully preserved and a dam filled with water plants and populated by flocks of water fowl. An orchid house was built which today is enhanced by the Peter Horrocks collection of rare Phalanopsis.

The team at La Rochelle has placed a huge amount of emphasis on reinvigorating the gardens to return them back to their former glory.