Le Clos Lucé gardens before eleven

The Clos Lucé is the manor where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life, ten minutes uphill from the Château Royal. It is a small pink-brick and tufa house with a walled courtyard, and behind it a park of terraces, streams, wooden bridges and full-size models of Leonardo's machines set among the trees.

As a location it offers what the château cannot: enclosure and greenery. The courtyard gives a warm, contained backdrop with the house facade behind; the park gives dappled woodland, water and long green sight lines, all within a few hundred metres and all a good deal more intimate than a royal terrace over a river.

Before eleven is the working window. The estate opens in the morning and the first hour is comparatively empty, with soft light in the courtyard and the sun still low through the trees in the park. From late morning the family groups arrive for the machines, and the paths stay busy until closing. Spring and autumn are the best-looking seasons here; summer midday under the canopy is still workable because the park is properly wooded.

Practical: it is a ticketed private estate with its own opening hours that vary by season — check them, and check the rules before planning a shoot rather than a visit, as photography beyond ordinary visitor snaps normally needs the estate's agreement. Paths are gravel and there are steps and slopes in the park. Parking near the Clos Lucé is limited; the walk up from the town centre takes about ten minutes and is genuinely uphill.