Climate?.. Do you really think people are gullible enough to move to an area of France that they’ve seen on a TV programme or read about in some form of media. Vosges and the Dordogne are very much not the same.
I have just realised that the BBC News: France country profile … is using statistics gleaned from l’INSEE… nothing wrong with that… except that this is only a small window on the people living in France… 
Now then… as I recall… Mark Twain made a comment about statistics…
was he quoting someone or was someone quoting him… could be the start of a new thread. 
Climate !!!
Explain.
I would say the Dordogne and the Vosges are the same. Both hot in the summer. The Dordogne is misty, cold and drab in the winter with nothing to do. The Vosges is cold as well but you can go skiing when you are bored.
You’d have to ask yourself why more expats have chosen the Dordogne. They must have good reasons. Perhaps skiing is not something those who have moved to the Dordogne wish to do. There’s a reason for everything. You could make a TV documentary extolling the virtues of the Vosges and perhaps reverse the trend for the popularity of the Dordogne. Good luck with that…
Other expats move there which is why they move there methinks ?
Most expats living in the Dordogne will never heard of the Vosges.
Mark…In all the years I have been here… I have not heard of expats moving specifically to be near other expats (unless members of the same family)…
Not sure that is a valid reason why Brits would choose one place over another.
Disgusted of Périgueux will be very unhappy with your assumption of their intelligence Mark…
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I’m amused that you’ve put Brittany and Normandy in the middle of a list of modest French towns, is that because each department might as well be lumped together as one town because, there’s no variation from side to the other and it makes no odds whether you live in Rennes or Saint Malo or Caen or Rouen or Bout-du-mondesville, you wouldn’t notice the difference?
Just for the record, unemployment in Brittany as a whole tends to be at least one or two percent lower than the average for France as a whole - usually around the same or slightly better than Ile de France -, but of course there is considerable variation between towns, Vitré for instance (not an expat hotspot) is around 5.5% which is pretty good. And like other departments they both have expat honeypots and areas where there’s barely a one.
But hey, don’t let the details get in the way of a good generalisation 
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I’ve looked everywhere for Sarlet.
Its in Canada.
Now I know. Thank you, 
The Dordogne and the Vosges region is very much the same. Rural, beautiful landscape and cheap housing. Well, the Vosges is a tad more expensive I guess with no airport. But it is similar.
How do you explain 170 odd British expats living in the Vosges and 7000 in the Dordogne ?
Probably because Dordogne has put more effort into/been more successful in promoting itself as a tourist destination for anglophones than Vosges has, so people go to the Dordogne on holiday, get to know it and like it, and so it’s not surprising if they subsequently move there.
As a translator I’ve been sent countless tourism jobs for Dordogne, I would say about half my work comes from tourism professionals in Dordogne and the Med. I don’t recall ever being sent anything for anywhere in Vosges.
I think that may partly answer your question - but if you ask me why that is, I couldn’t tell you. Maybe Vosges doesn’t want tourists, maybe its tourist board hasn’t got its act together and either there isn’t a lot there for tourists to do or it doesn’t do much to promote what there is, or maybe it just doesn’t bother getting its tourism material translated for English speakers
Mark…
Could it be that you have answered your own question… you say the Vosges has no airport… not necessarily the whole story, of why folk choose one area over another… but a lot of folk do like to be able to hop on a plane…
Architecture? Climate? Landscape? The two areas are so different they are not easy to compare. I know them both very well
The British. The French. Generalisations. Your arguments don’t hold water. I know British people who prefer towns to the countryside. I know Germans who prefer towns to the countryside. I know French people who prefer towns to the countryside. I also know people in all three countries who prefer the countryside to towns. It has nothing to do with nationality.
You accused people of being snobs for disliking PVC windows. You are acting like a snob by looking down on people who have chosen to live in particular areas because you think that their choice is inferior to yours. Different people. Different needs and wants. I know you are only playing games but please, get a life!
I know the Vosges very very well. I know Franche-Comté as well too which I personally think has some of the nicest if not the best countryside and architecture in France. If you are into countryside, architecture and history why not move there ?
Anyway, you brought up the Dordogne not me. I was just trying to rationalise why so many British prefer the Dordogne to the Vosges. I think it is because is not as well known region. But it should be. Gerardmer is stunning.
Not at all, I have have never had the opportunity of deciding where to live in France. It has always been random. I really have no idea where I would live in France GIVEN the choice. There are so many different factors to weigh up.
Here in the Clunysois we are a very mixed bunch.
We have an American who has a house, Poles who live in Switzerland, Portugese, and yes Brits.
I’m happily in with a mixed bunch too…including some Russians and Chinese… but thankfully far more French neighbours that all the other nationalities put together…
Hmmmm…not very politically correct.
I half live in one of the most densely populated and multi cultural municipalities in Europe and it is a very nice place to live to.