About Us

Who are we?

“Les 8 etangs” is privately owned by Jean-Noel Retailleau and Mark Beldom. Jean-Noel is a highly respected fish farmer in the Haut Vienne region of central France where his fish farm is based. He empties many lakes and sells around 80-100 tons of fish each winter. He has the advantage over most people of seeing lakes and properties that most of us only dream of finding and this is basically how he discovered “Les 8 etangs”.

The carp stock that have been placed into the lakes over the last four Winters have all come via the fish farm.

The mirror known as "Apples"

Amongst the stock are mirror carp, common carp, ghost carp, linear carp, leather carp, fully scaled carp, two tone mirrors, two tone commons, two tone linear, koi carp, grass carp

The story so far…

The 1st two seasons have been a great challenge, the level of investment has been extremely high and we’ve had to cope with a world wide recession causing a lot of stress and worry but the exceptional quality of the carp and the carp fishing gave carp anglers a reason to keep coming, particularly from France, Holland and the UK. Thanks to these anglers believing in our carp fishery, we have survived the hardest parts and will now continue to grow into a fishery offering top class facilities to compliment the top quality fishing.

Fully open in 2010

Facilities
A fantastic new clubhouse has been fully open in 2010.  It is situated in the centre of the complex under the canopy of ancient oaks and giant beech trees where you can relax and soak up the forest’s enchanting atmosphere whilst sipping on a cold beer (if you can tear yourself away from the water’s edge, of course!). There are also 2 shower blocks (male and female), charging points, power sockets, fridges and freezers.

The Future
The future is looking very bright with more big fish arriving this winter 2010 and a feeling of anything could happen next regarding the current lake residents… Exciting times!

For prices, see our ‘Bookings’ section.

Location
Freedom Lakes (Les 8 Etangs) is just outside the pretty French village of Usson, 30 minutes south-east of Poitiers airport or 6 hours from Calais. All amenties including supermarkets,banks,chemists,bars and restuarants are within a 10 minute drive from the lakes.