He preferred to live in the countryside
His love for the countryside is one of the interesting facts about Leo Tolstoy. Despite coming from a wealthy background, he preferred the simple things in life. He spent the majority of his time at Yasnaya Polyana, his country estate. Yasnaya Polyana means "bright glade" in Russian.
Maria and Nickolai Tolstoy, the author's parents, inherited Yasnaya Polyana soon after their marriage. They made it their main residence and moved in practically right away, delayed only by the construction of their desired renovations. The property was the latest in a succession of ones the wealthy Tolstoys bought in the Tula region of Russia. It was meant to house Leo, the fourth child, who was born in 1828.
Leo Tolstoy and his siblings were raised at Yasnaya Polyana, and Tolstoy later abandoned his plans to get degrees in law and oriental studies at Kazan to return to Tula. Tolstoy, who felt bound by the regimented nature of university study, made the decision to skip formalized education in favor of pursuing his writing, occasionally taking breaks to serve in the army. Tolstoy's literary imagination was therefore fostered at Yasnaya Polyana, which he later referred to as his "inaccessible literary stronghold" and where two of his most well-known books, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, were written.
