Ardenais

Cher · CC Berry Grand Sud · INSEE 18010

A school, but no food shop and nowhere to eat or drink.

No daily shops 18.7/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 55 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Ardenais (INSEE 18010) is in Cher (18), part of CC Berry Grand Sud. Population 205 (2023). ^[1]

INSEE density class: Rural à habitat très dispersé (level 7). ^[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/18010-ardenais

Vitality score

Vitality score 18.7/100 — No daily shops (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 55 % of the 16,110 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	25	0
Social	0	20	0
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0	10	0
Public & culture	0	5	0
Population trend	0.65	10	6.45
Housing mix	0.63	5	3.13

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 0 of 6

Eating out 0 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 1 of 3

Health 0 of 4

Public services 0 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 school, but no food shop and nowhere to eat or drink. ^[3,4]

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

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

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [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 [3,4]
Café / bar	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE PUBLIQUE	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	0		INSEE BPE 0 [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 BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
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: 276 2023: 205 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 209 (2012) → 205 (2023): -1.9 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 179 (1990) → 205 (2023): 14.5 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 123, of which 18.7 % second homes and 8.1 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Primary school Food shop — 5.6 km WPharmacy — 5.6 km WBakery — 5.8 km WGP — 10.7 km S 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 (Le Châtelet): 5.8 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Le Châtelet): 5.6 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

GP (Culan): 10.7 km to the south (straight line). ^[9]

Pharmacy (Le Châtelet): 5.6 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

Primary school (Ardenais): 0.2 km to the east (straight line). ^[10]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 25.8

Days at or below 0 °C 62.9

Muggy days a summer 5.5

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 26 days a year at or above 30 °C and 63 days at or below 0 °C, over 21 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[11]

Measured at the LE CHATELET weather station, 6.4 km away at 210 m; the village itself is at 235 m. ^[11]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 6 days a summer. ^[11]

Humidity measured at MAISONNAIS, 10.6 km away at 219 m, over 15 summers. ^[11]

An average of 766 mm of rain a year, spread over 125 days — about 6.1 mm on a day it rains. ^[11]

Rainfall measured at LE CHATELET, 6.4 km away at 210 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[11]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18010/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18010/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18010/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18010/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 18059
INSEE BPE 2025 — 18083
INSEE BPE 2025 — 18010
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
Vic-de-Chassenay	21	171 km NE	207	14.5	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 82 % · winter 96 % · humidity 64 %
Piégut	04	382 km SE	201	23.1	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 90 % · winter 47 % · humidity 57 %
Saint-Antonin-de-Sommaire	27	274 km NW	216	18.8	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 67 % · winter 99 %
Sourniac	15	152 km S	195	17.7	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 97 % · humidity 64 %
Beaumont-Pied-de-Bœuf	53	253 km NW	203	18.6	No daily shops	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 74 % · winter 68 % · humidity 64 %
Escandolières	12	242 km S	212	15.5	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel drier.summer 100 % · winter 99 % · humidity 64 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Sourniac	15	152 km S	195	17.7	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 97 % · humidity 64 %
Vic-de-Chassenay	21	171 km NE	207	14.5	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 82 % · winter 96 % · humidity 64 %
Escandolières	12	242 km S	212	15.5	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel drier.summer 100 % · winter 99 % · humidity 64 %
Beaumont-Pied-de-Bœuf	53	253 km NW	203	18.6	No daily shops	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 74 % · winter 68 % · humidity 64 %
Saint-Antonin-de-Sommaire	27	274 km NW	216	18.8	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 67 % · winter 99 %
Piégut	04	382 km SE	201	23.1	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 90 % · winter 47 % · humidity 57 %

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 Ardenais'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
La Celette	18	12 km E	205	17	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 93 % · humidity 86 %
Saint-Pierre-les-Bois	18	6.3 km W	261	15	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 100 % · humidity 100 %
Bourg-de-Bigorre	65	429 km SW	194	19.9	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 85 % · humidity 93 %
Fouleix	24	226 km SW	277	23.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 96 % · humidity 93 %
Montmaurin	31	404 km S	192	8.6	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 88 % · humidity 100 %
Saint-Martin-des-Combes	24	232 km SW	205	12.9	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 88 % · humidity 93 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/18010-ardenais