The château gardens and the Grand Canal

Behind the palace the grounds run east for well over a kilometre and cost nothing to walk, which makes them the most useful part of Fontainebleau for a session. Closest to the building is the Jardin de Diane, an enclosed garden with a bronze fountain of Diana at the centre and very old plane trees over it — shaded, intimate and green all day.

South of that is the Grand Parterre, laid out by Le Nôtre: the largest formal parterre in Europe, all clipped geometry, gravel and low hedges, with the palace behind it in a wide frame. Between them lies the Étang aux Carpes, the carp pond, with a small octagonal pavilion on an island in the middle and reflections in the early morning.

The Grand Canal runs east from the parterre for twelve hundred metres. It was dug in 1609, half a century before the one at Versailles, and it is lined with trees the whole way — a long straight water axis that photographs best down its length in the evening, with rowing boats on the water from spring through summer.

Practically: the gardens open earlier than the château and close at dusk, which varies through the year. Distances are real — the far end of the canal is a twenty-minute walk from the courtyard — so plan the route rather than doubling back, and expect wind along the open water.