Bessay

Vendée · CC Sud Vendée Littoral · INSEE 85023

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

Few services 21.6/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 35 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Bessay (INSEE 85023) is in Vendée (85), part of CC Sud Vendée Littoral. Population 456 (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/85023-bessay

Vitality score

Vitality score 21.6/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 35 % of the 17,933 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	0.8	10	8.03
Housing mix	0.81	5	4.05

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 1 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 PRIMAIRE PUBLIQUE MARIE CURIE). ^[3]

1 × Campsite (CAMPING MUNICIPAL LE PONTET). ^[3,4]

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 SIRENE 1 / INSEE BPE 0 [4]
Café / bar	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE PRIMAIRE PUBLIQUE MARIE CURIE	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	1	CAMPING MUNICIPAL LE PONTET	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]

Market and village life

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

Trajectory

1968: 326 2023: 456 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 426 (2012) → 456 (2023): 7 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 350 (1990) → 456 (2023): 30.3 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 220, of which 9.5 % second homes and 3.6 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Primary school GP — 4.8 km WFood shop — 4.9 km WBakery — 5.2 km WPharmacy — 5.5 km W 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 (Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais): 5.2 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais): 4.9 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

GP (Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais): 4.8 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

Pharmacy (Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais): 5.5 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

Primary school (Bessay): 0.1 km to the south (straight line). ^[9]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 18.5

Days at or below 0 °C 29

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 19 days a year at or above 30 °C and 29 days at or below 0 °C, over 30 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[10]

Measured at the SAINTE GEMME LA PLAINE_SAPC weather station, 11.2 km away at 3 m; the village itself is at 46 m. ^[10]

An average of 925 mm of rain a year, spread over 125 days — about 7.4 mm on a day it rains. ^[10]

Rainfall measured at CHATEAU-GUIBERT, 9.5 km away at 50 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 — 85023/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 85023/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 85023/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 85023/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 85135
INSEE BPE 2025 — 85023
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
Camburat	46	323 km SE	455	23.9	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.summer 51 % · winter 96 %
Varennes	24	237 km SE	458	20.6	Few services	Warmer summers and colder winters.summer 69 % · winter 72 %
Héauville	50	342 km N	456	21.4	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.summer 51 % · winter 68 %
Grand-Camp	27	306 km NE	452	17.3	No daily shops	Cooler summers and colder winters.summer 69 % · winter 82 %
Beauval-en-Caux	76	391 km NE	464	19.6	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 64 % · winter 100 %
Mainneville	27	380 km NE	445	20.5	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.summer 90 % · winter 68 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Varennes	24	237 km SE	458	20.6	Few services	Warmer summers and colder winters.summer 69 % · winter 72 %
Grand-Camp	27	306 km NE	452	17.3	No daily shops	Cooler summers and colder winters.summer 69 % · winter 82 %
Camburat	46	323 km SE	455	23.9	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.summer 51 % · winter 96 %
Héauville	50	342 km N	456	21.4	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.summer 51 % · winter 68 %
Mainneville	27	380 km NE	445	20.5	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.summer 90 % · winter 68 %
Beauval-en-Caux	76	391 km NE	464	19.6	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 64 % · winter 100 %

Sort and compare these on the full list →

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/85023-bessay