Les Essards

Charente-Maritime · CC Coeur de Saintonge · INSEE 17154

A food shop and a school, but nowhere to eat or drink.

Few services 32.6/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 53 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Les Essards (INSEE 17154) is in Charente-Maritime (17), part of CC Coeur de Saintonge. Population 740 (2023). ^[1]

INSEE density class: Rural à habitat dispersé (level 6). ^[2]

Data vintages: INSEE BPE 2025 · INSEE SIRENE 2026-09 · INSEE census (RP) 2023 · INSEE COG 2026 · INSEE density grid 2026.

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/17154-les-essards

Vitality score

Vitality score 32.6/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 53 % of the 16,142 communes of a similar size.

Compare this with communes of a similar size. The score measures how well a place is served relative to its own size band, and larger communes score higher as a rule — so it reads meaningfully against another village, and misleadingly against a town.

Measured but not scored in this model: Market. See the methodology for why.

Component	Value (0–1)	Weight	Contribution
Daily food	0.21	25	5.27
Social	0	20	0
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0	10	0
Public & culture	0.32	5	1.58
Population trend	1	10	10
Housing mix	0.9	5	4.51

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 1 of 6

Eating out 0 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 1 of 3

Health 0 of 4

Public services 1 of 1

Culture 0 of 2

Sport 0 of 2

Everyday services 0 of 3

Lodging 0 of 2

One square per service type, shaded by how many: none, one, a few, five or more. A blank square means none was counted — the sources do not distinguish “none here” from “not counted”.

A food shop and a school, but nowhere to eat or drink. ^[3,4]

1 × Bakery (boulangerie) (BOULANGERIE DE BELLEVUE). ^[3,4]

1 × Primary school (élémentaire) (ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE DES ESSARDS). ^[3]

1 × Post office / agence postale (LES ESSARDS AP). ^[3]

Not counted, because the business register records them as closed: 1 × Restaurant.

Not found in the commune: Butcher (boucherie), Grocery (épicerie / supérette), Supermarket, Restaurant, Café / bar, Nursery school (maternelle), GP (médecin généraliste), Pharmacy, Library. ^[3,4]

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	1	BOULANGERIE DE BELLEVUE	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 2 [3,4]
Butcher (boucherie)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Grocery (épicerie / supérette)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Supermarket	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Cheese shop (fromagerie)	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Fishmonger	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Restaurant	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3]
Café / bar	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE DES ESSARDS	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Collège	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
GP (médecin généraliste)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Pharmacy	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Nurse	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Dentist	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Post office / agence postale	1	LES ESSARDS AP	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Library	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Cinema	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Gym / sports hall	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Swimming pool	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Bank	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Hairdresser	0		INSEE SIRENE 1 / INSEE BPE 0 [4]
Fuel station	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Hotel	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Campsite	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]

Market and village life

Market day: unknown — nothing found in the datasets or on the commune website.

Trajectory

1968: 430 2023: 740 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 681 (2012) → 740 (2023): 8.7 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 445 (1990) → 740 (2023): 66.3 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 364, of which 4.9 % second homes and 5.5 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Bakery, Primary school Food shop — 2.6 km NWGP — 3.5 km NWPharmacy — 3.6 km NW Straight-line, from the mairie, in the direction given. Services in the same town share a spoke. Distance is not travel time: a pass or an estuary can double it.

Bakery (Les Essards): 0.3 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Saint-Porchaire): 2.6 km to the north-west (straight line). ^[9]

GP (Saint-Porchaire): 3.5 km to the north-west (straight line). ^[9]

Pharmacy (Saint-Porchaire): 3.6 km to the north-west (straight line). ^[9]

Primary school (Les Essards): 0.2 km to the north (straight line). ^[8]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 22.3

Days at or below 0 °C 28.3

Muggy days a summer 6.4

Each track runs from the 5th to the 95th percentile of the 34,141 communes with that measurement; the tick is the median. A value beyond either end sits at the end and is marked ▸.

An average of 22 days a year at or above 30 °C and 28 days at or below 0 °C, over 30 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[10]

Measured at the SAINTES weather station, 9 km away at 38 m; the village itself is at 42 m. ^[10]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 6 days a summer. ^[10]

Humidity measured at SAINTES, 9 km away at 38 m, over 30 summers. ^[10]

An average of 898 mm of rain a year, spread over 122 days — about 7.4 mm on a day it rains. ^[10]

Rainfall measured at SAINTES, 9 km away at 38 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[10]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17154/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17154/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17154/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17154/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 17154
INSEE BPE 2025 — 17387
Météo-France daily climatology 1995-2024

Villages like this one

Matched on size, density, second homes and which everyday shops and services are present — not on the score, so a village of the same kind that is doing better or worse shows up rather than being hidden.

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Saint-Vaast-d'Équiqueville	76	472 km N	748	29.8	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 49 % · winter 93 % · humidity 64 %
Courbillac	16	45 km E	725	32.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 95 % · humidity 86 %
Arvillers	80	508 km NE	759	28.8	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 64 % · winter 76 % · humidity 64 %
Les Hauts-de-Chée	55	562 km NE	693	25.1	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 82 % · winter 81 % · humidity 64 %
Condé-sur-Marne	51	518 km NE	747	31	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 79 % · winter 92 % · humidity 71 %
Brillon-en-Barrois	55	548 km NE	704	28.5	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 82 % · winter 80 % · humidity 64 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Courbillac	16	45 km E	725	32.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 95 % · humidity 86 %
Saint-Vaast-d'Équiqueville	76	472 km N	748	29.8	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 49 % · winter 93 % · humidity 64 %
Arvillers	80	508 km NE	759	28.8	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 64 % · winter 76 % · humidity 64 %
Condé-sur-Marne	51	518 km NE	747	31	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 79 % · winter 92 % · humidity 71 %
Brillon-en-Barrois	55	548 km NE	704	28.5	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 82 % · winter 80 % · humidity 64 %
Les Hauts-de-Chée	55	562 km NE	693	25.1	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 82 % · winter 81 % · humidity 64 %

Sort and compare these on the full list →

…and in much the same climate

The same match on size and services, narrowed to communes whose summers, winters and summer humidity are all close to Les Essards's. All three are required, so this section is absent for the 11.8 % of communes with no humidity station near enough to measure: two temperature axes alone cannot tell a muggy coast from a dry one.

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Courbillac	16	45 km E	725	32.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 95 % · humidity 86 %
Saint-Cybardeaux	16	57 km E	771	21.3	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 92 % · humidity 93 %
Moëze	17	25 km NW	600	39.6	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 92 % · humidity 86 %
Douzat	16	60 km E	438	29	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 92 % · humidity 93 %
Saint-Ciers-de-Canesse	33	80 km S	746	22.9	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 99 % · humidity 93 %
Saint-Girons-d'Aiguevives	33	75 km S	971	25.8	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 99 % · humidity 86 %

Elsewhere

Commune website · Wikipedia (en) ·Wikipedia (fr) · INSEE dossier complet · OpenStreetMap · Web search · Map

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/17154-les-essards