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 

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From one brown leather dog collar unfolds a story of a family that loved their dogs for generations. And the Thellussons of Brodsworth Hall weren’t the only grand family whose history we can understand more deeply through accounts of their four-legged friends.  

This time, Amy is joined by English Heritage historians Dr Megan Leyland and Eleanor Matthews to explore how dogs lived alongside people as companions, workers, status symbols and family members.  

From lapdogs and greyhounds to working dogs, canine hierarchies and pet cemeteries in the garden, we trace centuries of affection, symbolism and sentiment. We hear how dogs were fed, memorialised and painted into portraits that allow us to understand the values of the past today. 

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Two near-identical paintings. One great Dutch master. And a mystery that has spanned more than 350 years. In this episode of The English Heritage Podcast, Amy Matthews travels to Kenwood to explore “The Guitar Player”, Johannes Vermeer’s celebrated painting, and its striking counterpart from the Philadelphia Art Museum. Displayed side by side for the first time, these two works are inviting spirited debate from visitors, and cutting-edge research too.  

English Heritage’s Wendy Monkhouse, Ella Letort and Alice Tate-Harte take Amy through questions of authorship, technique, condition, and provenance. From pigment analysis and imaging technologies to the marks of time visible on canvas, this episode reveals how art history and science work together to interrogate one of the most intriguing puzzles in Vermeer scholarship.  

Look closely and decide for yourself: are these two paintings the work of the same hand or do their subtle differences tell another story?  

You can find out more about this collaboration with the National Gallery (London), the National Gallery of Art (Washington) and the Philadelphia Art Museum in the notes below.  

Episode Notes  

The scientific research on the Philadelphia painting was undertaken by:  

Dr. Kate Duffy (Senior Scientist)  

Dr. Aleksandra Popowich (Conservation Scientist)  

Mark Tucker (The Neubauer Family Director of Conservation), Philadelphia Art Museum  

In collaboration with:  

Dr. John Delaney (Senior Imaging Scientist)  

Dr. Kate Dooley (Imaging Scientist), National Gallery of Art, Washington  

The scientific research on the Kenwood painting was carried out by:  

Dr. Helen Howard (Senior Scientist)  

Dr. Marta Melchiorre Di Crescenzo (Senior Scientist), National Gallery, London  

In collaboration with:  

Dr. John Delaney (Senior Imaging Scientist)  

Dr. Kate Dooley (Imaging Scientist), National Gallery of Art, Washington  

Alice Tate-Harte (Paintings Conservator), English Heritage  

Curatorial research was carried out by:  

Dr. Jennifer Thompson (The Gloria and Jack Drosdick Curator of European Painting and Sculpture and Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection)  

Dr. Wendy Monkhouse (Senior Curator, English Heritage)  

Ella Letort (Curator, Kenwood House)  

You can find out more about the scientific research in this online article: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenwood/history-stories-kenwood/guitar_player_vermeer/  

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.    

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The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

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While the family upstairs feasts and toasts, who’s stoking the fires, serving the supper and sweeping up the pine needles? This episode heads below stairs to explore how servants in historic country houses really spent Christmas. 

Amy Matthews is joined by English Heritage expert Dr Andrew Hann and writer Sian Evans to uncover the season of hard work and stolen play. Not to mention vast quantities of beef, balls, baffling numbers of eggs and moments when the social order relaxed just a little! 

Drawing on diaries, documents and oral histories, we meet cooks, gardeners and housekeepers who found ways to celebrate despite the workload and discover why Boxing Day often mattered more than Christmas Day for those in service. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.   

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The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.  

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How did an English abbey come to own a fragment of Santa’s finger?  

And what has this got to do with a long tradition of spiritual journeys?  

Beginning with a relic from St Nicholas that found its way all the way to Battle Abbey in Sussex, we’re lacing up our boots to follow the history of Christian pilgrimage around the world.  

Dr Michael Carter and modern-day pilgrim Luke Sherlock @englishpilgrim help Amy Matthews understand why people travelled for spiritual purposes in the past and how we continue to undertake life-changing journeys in the modern day. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.   

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Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*  

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The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.  

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“Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.”  

Step inside the layered, lyrical, sometimes lonely world of writer J.M. Barrie. Amy Matthews meets with Blue Plaques historian Howard Spencer who explains how Peter Pan was born in this London home, before diving into the life and works of the writer with Barrie biographer Lisa Chaney. 

From a weaving town in Scotland to Edwardian theatre fame, we follow Barrie’s extraordinary rise, his complicated marriage, his intense bond with the Llewellyn-Davies boys, and the deeper and perhaps darker meaning behind the ‘fairytale’ of Peter Pan.  

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Neverland at Kenwood 2025 invites you to experience a magical festive light trail this winter. Find information and tickets: www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-on/kenwood-neverland/ 

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People in the early Neolithic period were pioneering farming in England and building our first architecture – not stone circles or elegant homes, but grand tombs that often dominated the landscape. 

This time on the English Heritage podcast, Amy Matthews steps back in time with Jennifer Wexler and Win Scutt to explore how death and remembrance were tied into the cultures, daily lives and traditions of the people who built the world we live in today.  

But how much can we relate to them now? Join the debate! 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

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Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.* 

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The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales. 

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What do Charles Darwin’s wife, a Victorian cook, and a food historian with a sweet tooth have in common? Pudding — and plenty of it.  

This week, Amy Matthews is joined by Dr Annie Gray and Dr Andrew Hann to dig through centuries of recipes, from Emma Darwin’s handwritten notes to the rise of the sticky toffee pudding. Along the way, they uncover the people behind Britain’s best-loved desserts — cooks, servants and home bakers who stirred up comfort, celebration and just a little competition. 

It’s part history, part kitchen gossip — and proof that pudding has always been about people. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

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Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.* 

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The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales. 

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In 1916, 11-year-old Amy Tyreman picked up her knitting needles and joined the war effort, sending handmade comforts to soldiers she’d never met.  

This community effort from the children of the Brodsworth estate in Yorkshire led to an exchange of letters with brave troops. More than a century later, some of Amy’s treasured correspondence survives. 

Amy Matthews is joined by English Heritage’s Dr Andrew Hann and Eleanor Matthews to trace the story through Amy’s surviving letters and discover what they reveal about life, loss and community in wartime Britain.  

It’s a story of care, courage and connection — and how one small act of kindness can travel a very long way! 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

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Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.* 

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The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales. 

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In medieval England, community and religion played an important role in how people cared for each other. Ideas about charity and care helped lay the foundations for some of our most important public services today. 

This time on The English Heritage Podcast, Amy Matthews chats with Simon Jarrett, author of A History of Disability in England and Collections Curator Susan Harrison to uncover lesser-known histories of care and support that connect us to people from the past. 

From monastic hospitals to healing pilgrimages and even early mobility aids, find out how people with physical or learning disabilities lived as part of their communities long before the rise of modern healthcare institutions. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

Join: 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.

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