Yasnaya Polyana — "Clear Glade" — is the estate where Leo Tolstoy was born, lived, and wrote. It lies about 10 kilometres south of Tula, set in parkland and birch forest that looks much as it did in the 19th century. The main house is preserved almost exactly as Tolstoy left it when he fled in 1910, days before his death: his writing desk, his bicycle, his walking boots are all still there.
The estate is one of the finest literary house-museums in Russia. Beyond the main house there are several other buildings to explore, including the school Tolstoy founded for peasant children and the estate office. The surrounding woods are lovely for a walk, and in winter the whole estate takes on a particularly Russian melancholy that Tolstoy himself would have recognised. Buses run from Tula's Moskovsky bus station; the journey takes about 20–25 minutes.