A farmhouse for sale in Charente (16), a Charentaise manor-farm or a barn to convert: this Cognac department, spanning the limestone Charente valley and the arable Ruffécois, has kept a very recognisable golden-stone farm heritage. This page brings together the farmhouses, barns and mas for sale in Charente published on ma-propriete.fr: a Charente manor-farm with a wine cellar and outbuildings, a Ruffécois farm complex awaiting restoration, a stone barn with land and pasture for a horse project.
Below you will find the actual prices of the Charente rural market, an overview of where to look, from the Charente valley to the Confolentais, and the points to check before buying a former farm building. For a tourism project, our white paper on setting up a rural gîte will help you cost it. This market appeals both to winegrowers looking for a working estate and to buyers drawn to the heritage of the Cognac country.
There are no statistics dedicated to farmhouses and barns: a renovated farmhouse sells like a country house with outbuildings and land, whereas a bare barn or a farm to renovate often sells well below. The most useful benchmark therefore remains the price of country houses.
How much does a country house cost in Charente (16)? According to DVF data (notarised sales) analysed by the ma-propriete.fr observatory, the median price of a country house in Charente (16) stood at €138,000 in 2025, with an average price of €145,132 and a median price of €1,336/m² of living space (2,105 house sales in rural municipalities over the year). The price range is wide: 10% of houses sold for less than €70,000 (floor price, 1st decile) and 10% for more than €230,000 (ceiling price, 9th decile). The typical country house here offers 110 m² of living space on an average plot of 3,522 m², i.e. around 0.4 ha.
This market is well below the regional median (Nouvelle-Aquitaine: €170,000) and well below the national median (€189,200). Since the second half of 2020, the median price has risen from €130,000 to €138,000, i.e. +6.2%; over one year (2024-2025) the change is -1.4%.
| 2025 indicator | Charente | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price | €138,000 | €170,000 | €189,200 |
| Average price | €145,132 | €188,636 | €207,100 |
| Floor price (1st decile) | €70,000 | €83,000 | €90,000 |
| Ceiling price (9th decile) | €230,000 | €315,785 | €340,000 |
| Median price per m² of living space | €1,336/m² | €1,657/m² | €1,830/m² |
| Average living space | 110 m² | 110 m² | 108 m² |
| Average plot size | 3,522 m² | 4,005 m² | 3,181 m² |
| Number of sales in 2025 | 2,105 | 26,126 | 150,313 |
A departmental average hides large gaps. A smallholding to renovate, a restored longère with its outbuildings, a farmhouse on several hectares of land or a manor house with parkland do not sell at the same price, and the location matters as much as the building: coastline, tourist area, peri-urban countryside close to a job market or deep countryside. The table below shows the median price of country houses in Charente (16) by type of municipality (cumulative sales from mid-2020 to 2025) and its change between 2021 and 2025.
| Type of municipality | Median price 2020-2025 | Median price per m² | Change 2021-2025 | Sales 2020-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inland tourist areas (hinterland, mountains) | €126,850 | €1,221/m² | +9.9% | 510 |
| Peri-urban countryside (city catchment area) | €160,000 | €1,517/m² | +4.6% | 5,271 |
| Deep countryside (outside urban influence) | €124,950 | €1,175/m² | +3.7% | 7,130 |
These benchmarks help you assess a listing, estimate a property before putting it up for sale, or set your budget for a holiday home or a permanent move to the French countryside. To go further, see our observatory of country house prices in France (national, regional and departmental analysis, downloadable annual report) and work out the full cost of your purchase, including French notary fees, with our notary fees calculator.
In the wine-growing part of Charente, around the Cognac area, the farm complex often takes the form of a manor-farm built of golden limestone, together with an ageing wine cellar, a barn and sometimes stables. In the more arable Ruffécois, in the north of the department, large farms with storage sheds dominate. Towards the Confolentais, on the edge of the Limousin, buildings are closer to a more modest granite hedgerow farm. There is no mas in Charente.
These buildings, often sold with hectares of vineyard, farmland or pasture, lend themselves to conversion into a home, rural gîtes or livery for horses, subject to zoning. Disused wine cellars, with their generous volumes, offer strong conversion potential. Some wine cellars still have an original Charentais still, a heritage feature that adds value while calling for particular care in any conversion project.
Around Cognac and Jarnac, in the Charente valley, wine-growing manor-farms and farm complexes are numerous but much sought after. Towards Angoulême, the supply stays varied between vineyards and arable land. The Ruffécois, in the north around Ruffec, offers larger, more affordable arable farms. Towards Confolens and the Confolentais to the east, granite farm buildings are closer to the neighbouring Limousin style. Around Barbezieux to the south, wine-growing farms sit within more scattered settlement. Angoulême railway station, on the Paris-Bordeaux high-speed line, remains an advantage for buyers wanting to keep fast access to the capital.
The most affordable areas lie in the Confolentais and the northern Ruffécois, away from the Cognac and Angoulême corridors. Conversely, wine-growing manor-farms near Cognac and Jarnac trade noticeably above the department's rural average.
Check the permitted use of the building under the local planning zoning: in an agricultural zone, a change of use is only possible if the barn or wine cellar is identified as convertible into housing. Examine the roof (canal tiles or slate, sometimes asbestos-cement on wine-growing sheds), the timber frame and the drainage, which often needs bringing up to standard.
Where vines or farmland are included, ask about any current farm lease and about the pre-emption right of the Safer. Converting a wine cellar into living space, despite its appealing volumes, can cost as much as buying the property itself. Old wine cellars, often built without an upper floor or insulation, need careful thought about thermal insulation before any conversion into living space.
On ma-propriete.fr, filter Charente farms and manor-farms by budget, built area and land area, set up an email alert to follow new listings, and extend your search to all farmhouses, barns and mas for sale in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Local wine merchant houses and cooperatives are also a useful source of information on manor-farms and wine cellars sold together with their operation.
