Searching for lakes and ponds for sale in Charente-Maritime means choosing between two landscapes that have almost nothing in common. Along the coast, the Rochefort, Brouage and Seudre marshes cover a large share of the department: here you buy a marsh plot with its pool, a former salt pan or a wildfowling hide, known locally as a “tonne”. Inland, in southern Saintonge, the Double saintongeaise combines maritime pine, oak and sweet chestnut with heathland ponds around Montendre, Montlieu-la-Garde and Montguyon. This page brings together the department’s pond and lake listings, posted by private sellers, estate agents and notaires.
The price section that follows shows what ponds sold without buildings fetch in the department, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and across France. Then come the landscapes, their buyers and the checks specific to an area where water is managed collectively. For the general method, see our guide to buying a pond the right way.
According to the ma-propriete.fr pond price observatory, which keeps only ponds, lakes and pools sold without buildings in the French DVF land registry data, 122 pond sales were recorded in Charente-Maritime between July 2020 and December 2025, at a median price of €13,160/ha and an average of €20,587/ha. Per square metre, the median works out at about €1.32. In 2025, 11 sales give a median of €13,847/ha†. In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, 333 ponds sold over the same period at a median of €18,535/ha, and the regional median reached €22,232/ha in 2025* across 38 sales; the national median was €25,235/ha in 2025.
| Indicator | Charente-Maritime (17) | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price 2020-2025 | €13,160/ha | €18,535/ha | €25,694/ha |
| Average price 2020-2025 | €20,587/ha | €23,945/ha | €32,291/ha |
| Number of sales 2020-2025 | 122 | 333 | 2,053 |
| Median price 2025 | €13,847/ha† | €22,232/ha* | €25,235/ha |
| Number of sales 2025 | 11 | 38 | 300 |
Measured against the total area, banks included, a pond’s value depends heavily on its size: small, well-equipped ponds cost more per hectare. The figures concern ponds sold on their own, without a house or a large wood.
On the listings side, 5 properties with a pond are offered on ma-propriete.fr in Nouvelle-Aquitaine as of 2 October 2026, none in Charente-Maritime at that date. Their median asking price is €71,000 for a median size of about 7.0 ha. These are asking prices for complete properties: they describe the supply on offer more than the average price of a wooded hectare. To work out the full cost of a purchase, add the conveyancing fees with our notary fee calculator.
Source: DVF (French tax authority), processed by ma-propriete.fr; ponds, lakes and pools without buildings of at least 2,000 m², with water covering at least half of the property; July 2020 to December 2025. Listings recorded on 2 October 2026.
The Brouage marsh, between Rochefort and Marennes, and the Seudre marshes were shaped by salt-making. Depending on the area, the old pans have become grazed meadows or “claires”, the shallow ponds in which Marennes-Oléron oysters are finished. Further north, the Rochefort marshes and the Charente-Maritime part of the Marais poitevin, around Marans, are freshwater marshes drained by canals and sluices, given over to cattle and crops. Everywhere, wildfowl are shot from tonnes, sunken hides beside a pool whose level is kept up so that ducks and geese will settle; it is also practised on the flood meadows of the Charente and Boutonne valleys. Since the rules introduced in 2000, night shooting is only allowed from existing, declared hides, so a lawful tonne is part of what the property is worth. These plots sell mainly between local hunters, often privately, between individuals; for larger shoots, see our sporting estates in Charente-Maritime.
In the south of the department, the Double saintongeaise is one of Charente-Maritime’s main wooded areas: maritime pine, pedunculate oak and Pyrenean oak cover low sandy hills dotted with a great many ponds, natural or dug. This is the department’s freshwater pond country, and properties often sell with a few hectares of pinewood or heath, sometimes with an old sharecropper’s farm. The Lac Baron-Desqueyroux, laid out as a leisure park at Montendre, gives an idea of the landscape, but private properties are modest ponds fed by groundwater, a spring or a small stream. The Double carries on into Charente and Gironde; to compare with the Charente side, look at the ponds in neighbouring Charente.
Three groups of buyers meet here. Wildfowlers look for marsh pools and plots, whose value depends on their position on the Atlantic migration flyway and on a dependable water supply. Anglers want a fishing pond in the Double for carp, pike, tench or black bass. Finally, families from La Rochelle, Saintes or the Bordeaux area look for land with a pond for weekends, or a country house by the water; for them, access, the buildings and planning rules matter as much as the pond itself.
In the marshes, the water is not entirely yours: canal levels are run by landowners’ associations (associations syndicales), which maintain sluices and ditches and levy an annual charge. Ask which association covers the plot and what it costs each year. The Brouage and Seudre marshes are Natura 2000 sites, and the Conservatoire du littoral, the national coastal protection agency, already owns large areas at Brouage: dredging, digging a new pool or infilling are tightly controlled there, while the loi Littoral, France’s coastal planning law, severely limits building in seaside communes. In the Double, the questions are more familiar: does the pond predate the Revolution (“fondé en titre”), or was it authorised or declared under water law, and is it connected to a stream? Its peat bogs and wet heaths are home to the European pond turtle, the otter and the European mink, so near these habitats any draining should be prepared with the departmental land and sea office (DDTM).
Coypu and red swamp crayfish burrow into banks, in the marshes and in the Double alike: have the dam, the outlet tower (the “moine”) or sluice gate, the spillway and the silt checked, and look at the water level at the end of summer, often low on sand. Water primrose, which spreads through canals and shallow ponds, then has to be pulled out every year; our article on routine pond maintenance sets out this work.
Charente-Maritime ponds on ma-propriete.fr come from private owners, estate agents and notaires’ offices; narrow the list by price or size, set up an email alert to hear about new listings as soon as they appear, or advertise your own marsh pool or pond. If the property includes pine or oak woodland in the Double, browse our woods and forests for sale in Charente-Maritime; to search further afield, see the lakes and ponds for sale across Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
