Looking for recreational land for sale in Saône-et-Loire (71) means covering a vast rural department between the Charolais bocage, the hills of the Clunisois and the ponds of Bresse, where large cattle pastures border extensive forests. Non-buildable plots are plentiful here and often fairly large: hay meadows in the Charolais-Brionnais, woodland in the Autunois and the Morvan, fish-farming ponds around Louhans. On this page, ma-propriete.fr gathers the listings of recreational land for sale in Saône-et-Loire: an enclosed meadow, a wooded plot, a pond with a cabin, hunting or fishing land.
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 local planning rules allow, and what they forbid.
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 Saône-et-Loire (71), 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) | 391 | €2,349/ha | €1,629/ha – €3,300/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) | 103 | €5,200/ha | €2,548/ha – €15,156/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 313 | €2.54/m² | €1.03/m² – €6.90/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is well below the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving +8.2% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades 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: €2,349/ha of bare land is €0.23/m², against €2.54/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 national figure for "Pond".
Saône-et-Loire is first and foremost cattle country: the meadows of the Charolais-Brionnais, often sizeable and lined with low hedges, make up most of the supply of non-constructible land, at some of the region's more accessible prices. Woods take up a significant share around the Autunois and the foothills of the Morvan, with oak and beech stands and coppices worked for firewood.
To the east, the Bresse louhannaise stands out for its many fish-farming ponds, inherited from a long carp-farming tradition, often sold with a working dam and outlet. Many wooded plots or ponds are sold with a cabin or an old farm shelter, whose legal status is worth checking. These Bresse ponds, often several hectares in size, remain among the most sought-after properties in the whole department.
The Charolais-Brionnais, around Charolles, Paray-le-Monial and Marcigny, offers the largest meadows with easy access. The Clunisois, around Cluny and Tramayes, adds a hillier, wooded landscape prized for leisure woodland. Further east, the Bresse louhannaise, around Louhans and Pierre-de-Bresse, concentrates the ponds, while the Autunois and the edges of the Morvan, around Autun and Épinac, hold the department's largest forest blocks. The Mâconnais and the Chalonnais, better served by the motorway and the Mâcon-Loché and Creusot-Montchanin TGV stations, remain more sought after. These areas attract buyers from both Lyon and Paris, drawn more by fast road and rail links than by plot size.
The most affordable areas lie deep in the Charolais and the Brionnais, away from main routes, where meadows sell at their lowest. Woods near the Morvan and Bresse ponds, scarcer, sell well above the departmental average. Buyers from Lyon or the Paris region value the proximity of these forest blocks to the main transport routes.
In an agricultural (A) or natural (N) zone, any new building is in principle prohibited: a chalet, a cabin or a light leisure dwelling should be checked against the local planning document before any project. Long-term parking of a caravan or a mobile home is regulated in the same way. An existing shelter only holds value if it was properly authorised; otherwise it risks having to be removed. Also check access to the plot (rural track, right of way, landlocked parcel) and the presence of water and electricity, often absent in open countryside. These checks apply equally to a small meadow and to a larger wooded parcel.
On agricultural land, the SAFER land agency may exercise its right of pre-emption, with a risk of a lower price being set if the asking price strays too far from local Charolais land values. For a pond, French water law governs the dam, the outlet and maintenance, particularly in Bresse where fish farming is regulated. Finally, have the boundaries and exact cadastral area checked. particularly on large Charolais pastures carved out of an older agricultural layout.
The listings of recreational land in Saône-et-Loire published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, price and the presence of a pond, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified of new plots as soon as they are listed. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
