The La Rochelle Estate is a country estate owned by the National Trust Zimbabwe, situated in the Imbeza Valley in the

Eastern Highlands :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabw ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

close to the border with Mozambique and approximately 20 km from the city of Mutare (formerly Umtali). The site comprises approximately 108 ha.

History

The house at La Rochelle was built by Sir Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia (Lady Courtauld), who settled in Southern Rhodesia in 1951. Architects were invited to design an ambitious property intended for entertainment on a grand scale. The construction of the house was completed in April 1953 and the Courtaulds' fine collection of furniture, paintings and other art from their former home Eltham Palace in London was brought to La Rochelle. A large botanical garden incorporating an arboretum and pinetum was established with the professional help of the British horticulturist John Henry Mitchell. The indigenous wild bush lands in the grounds were also carefully preserved. Orchid houses containing exotic, rare and indigenous orchids were also established. The Courtaulds frequently entertained at La Rochelle and held weekly grand dinners for local people and overseas guests. Visitors to

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

in Salisbury (now

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

) regularly went on to La Rochelle as part of their visit to Rhodesia. Distinguished visitors were asked to engrave their signatures with a diamond-tipped stylus on the two large end windows in the house. Signatures include those of

Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician. ''The Times'' obituary c ...

, Sybil Thorndike,

Julian Amery Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, (27 March 1919 – 3 September 1996) was a British Conservative Party politician, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 39 of the 42 years between 1950 and 1992. He was appointed to the Pr ...

, Julian Huxley, and

Laurens van der Post Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, (13 December 1906 – 15 December 1996) was a South African Afrikaner writer, farmer, soldier, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist. He was noted for his interest in J ...

. The Courtaulds were very active philanthropists in Rhodesia. Their achievements included the funding of the construction of buildings for the Courtauld Theatre and Queen's Hall in Mutare, and the auditorium of what is now the Zimbabwe College of Music in Harare. Stephen Courtauld presided as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the what is now National Gallery of Zimbabwe. He contributed to the construction costs and provided a substantial endowment fund for the Gallery. The Courtaulds were sponsors of the Capricorn Africa Society, a pressure movement that sought to improve relations between races in the British-administered countries of sub-Saharan Africa. In 1964 the Courtaulds funded the establishment of an agricultural training school named 'Kukwanisa' in the Tsonzo area of Nyanga for African

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

farmers, which was destroyed during the subsequent war years. Stephen Courtauld died in Rhodesia in 1967 and Virginia moved to

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

in 1970, aged 86. In accordance with her husband's wishes, she left the property to the Rhodesian National Trust, requesting that La Rochelle be used as “a venue for conferences either of a public, national, international or educational character”.

Recent developments

After periods of disuse and shortages of funding the property was restored and gardens rejuvenated in 2014-15. A hotel with conference facilities incorporating the Courtaulds' house was opened in 2015, and an organic herb farm, with an associated farming training centre, was established in the grounds.

References

{{coord, -18.90654, 32.69128, format=dms, type:landmark_region:ZW, display=title Mutare Buildings and structures completed in 1951 Historic sites in Zimbabwe