A recreational land for sale in Cher (18) is most often found in the Champagne berrichonne, the Sologne berrichonne or the Pays Fort: bocage meadows bordering the Berry, oak woods on the edge of the Allogny or Vierzon forests, and a handful of ponds around the Sologne des étangs. This page brings together the listings of recreational land for sale in Cher: enclosed meadows, hunting woodland, plots with a cabin or land to develop along a riverbank.
You will find price benchmarks drawn from actual sales, an overview of the areas where these plots are concentrated and the points to check before buying in an agricultural or natural zone. To frame your project, read our guide on how to turn agricultural land into recreational land: it explains what the local planning rules actually allow, and what they forbid. A local notary can also confirm whether a plot has previously been subject to a pre-emption claim.
There is no such thing as a "recreational land price" in the French notarial records: the DVF database records sales of agricultural land, woodland and ponds, and a recreational plot is priced against these three benchmarks, higher or lower depending on what it adds (vehicle access, a water point, fencing, an existing shelter, a village nearby). The table below gives, for each benchmark, the sales recorded in 2025 in Cher (18), the median price and the range between the first decile (floor) and the ninth decile (ceiling), with the national figure for comparison.
| DVF 2025 benchmark | Sales | Median price | Range (P10 – P90) | France median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare agricultural land (€/ha) | 199 | €4,750/ha | €2,993/ha – €8,952/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) | 34 | €7,276/ha | €2,887/ha – €18,195/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 55 | €2.25/m² | €1.18/m² – €6.19/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is below the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving +5.6% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades well above the national benchmark (€4,934/ha), and a pond, a much rarer asset, is valued per square metre of water and banks. To compare a listing, bring everything back to the square metre: €4,750/ha of bare land is €0.47/m², against €2.25/m² for a pond. Recreational land, almost always classified as an agricultural or natural zone, generally sells slightly above bare agricultural land; but it usually remains subject to the SAFER land agency's right of pre-emption, and the SAFER may pre-empt with a downward price revision if the price is excessive compared with local land prices. These benchmarks therefore also help you avoid paying a price the SAFER would challenge.
Find the detail by department, plot size and year in our agricultural land price observatory and in the forest price observatory. Source: DVF (Demandes de valeurs foncières), 2025 sales, processed by ma-propriete.fr; medians published from 30 sales upwards. * Fewer than 30 sales in the department: the benchmark shown is the regional figure for "Pond".
Cher is a department of contrasts: to the north and west, the Champagne berrichonne unrolls a cereal plain almost without hedges, where small leisure plots are scarce because the land is devoted almost entirely to large-scale farming. The bocage returns in the Boischaut, to the south, with meadows lined with hedgerows, sometimes grazed by horses or Charolais cattle, and small woods of chestnut and oak. The Pays Fort and the Sologne berrichonne, to the east, offer a more enclosed landscape of ponds, heathland and pine woods. Hedge density and hedgerow species vary noticeably between the northern Champagne berrichonne and the southern Boischaut, a useful clue when comparing two otherwise similar meadows.
Ponds for sale are few, concentrated mainly in the Sologne berrichonne and a handful of damp valleys; they sell well above the price of the neighbouring meadows. Woodland remains sought after around the Allogny, Vierzon and Tronçais forests on the border with Allier, for hunting and firewood.
The Sancerrois, around Sancerre and Saint-Satur, combines vineyard hillsides with plateau woods, and its fragmented farmland lends itself to a recreational land. The Pays Fort, towards La Chapelle-d'Angillon and Henrichemont, keeps a dense bocage and isolated ponds. The Cher valley, from Vierzon to Saint-Amand-Montrond, offers riverside meadows and wooded slopes, reached via the A20 motorway that crosses the department from north to south. Around Bourges, the prefecture served by Intercités and TER trains to Paris-Austerlitz, plots remain available but pressure rises closer to the city.
The most affordable areas lie in the Champagne berrichonne, where isolated meadows in open plain attract few buyers, and in the southern Boischaut. Ponds in the Pays Fort and the Sologne berrichonne, and woodland near the forests prized for hunting, sell well above the departmental average.
As elsewhere, most plots on offer are classified as agricultural (A) or natural (N) zones under the local planning document, which in principle prohibits any new building: a cabin, a chalet or a light leisure dwelling cannot be installed without authorisation, and parking a caravan or mobile home for an extended period is regulated. An existing shelter is only an asset if it was built with proper authorisation; otherwise, it may not be allowed to remain. Check access (rural track, right of way, risk of a landlocked parcel), the presence of water and electricity, often absent in open countryside, and flood-zone status along the Cher, the Yèvre or the Auron. A quick visit to the town hall is often the fastest way to confirm a parcel's exact zoning before making an offer.
On land classified as agricultural, the SAFER land agency holds a right of pre-emption that can delay the sale, or even lead to a price revision if it strays too far from local land values. A pond requires checking its status under the French water law and the maintenance duties for its outlet. Finally, ask for the exact cadastral area and whether the boundaries have been surveyed, particularly useful in cases of joint ownership or a grouped sale.
Listings of recreational land in Cher published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, price and the presence of a water feature, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified of new plots. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Centre-Val de Loire.
