Chaumont-sur-Loire terrace

Ten minutes downstream, Chaumont-sur-Loire stands on a bluff with the river directly below, and its terrace gives what Chenonceau cannot: distance and altitude, the Loire running away between sandbanks and willow islands with the valley opening out. The approach is a long climb through parkland with cedars, and the courtyard inside the walls is a compact, high-sided set of frames in pale tuffeau stone.

The estate runs an International Garden Festival from spring into autumn — two dozen designed plots in a wooded enclosure, each a small, deliberate, very photogenic set. It is ticketed and it changes every year, so treat it as a bonus rather than a promise, and check what is open on the date.

For light, late afternoon is the one: the terrace faces roughly south over the river, and the last hours put warm light on the stone and turn the water silver. Come down to the riverbank afterwards — the sandbanks below Chaumont are the quiet, unphotographed half of the Loire and they hold soft colour long after the château closes.