Le Château de Chambord looks like the archetypal grand French château, built in the 16th century and believed to have had some of its features designed by Leonardo da Vinci. If Disney was to build a château this is what it would build. The truth is though that it was in fact only ever used as a hunting lodge! An extremely large, grand and elaborate hunting lodge, but a hunting lodge all the same. The fact it was never really lived as a main residence means there has been little in the way of a 16th century French garden associated with it.
The château is very much the star of the show; immediately around it the surrounding woodland is cleared and left as grass to afford a better view of it. Several paths radiate out from this area to create vistas of it and the river Le Cosson has been reshaped to form a reflecting lake on two sides of the building.
Of more recent design is the English Garden which is said to be based on plans from 1889, but is only a small area of trees, shrubs and hardy perennials. Of more interest is the ornamental vegetable garden which is set out with an eclectic range of plants set between paths of gravel coloured glass.
