Removals from Herne Bay to France

Very few places in Britain are closer to France than this one. A load leaving Herne Bay takes the Thanet Way to the M2, then the M20, and is at the tunnel or the ferry while most loads are still on a motorway. What that buys is not a cheaper move; it buys a departure that does not have to be heroic.

The route

the A299 Thanet Way to the M2, then the M20 — the Kent crossings are barely half an hour away After the crossing it is Calais or Coquelles and the A16 or A26 south, then whichever way the destination takes you: the A28 and A13 for Normandy, the A11 for Brittany and the Loire, the A10 through Poitiers for the Charente and Dordogne, and the A7 down the Rhône for Provence.

Where deliveries go

• Normandy and the north — Rouen, Caen, Calvados, the Cotentin
• Brittany and the Loire — Rennes, Vannes, Nantes and the coast
• Charente, Dordogne and the Lot — stone houses down long lanes
• Occitanie and the south-west — Toulouse, the Tarn, the Aude
• Provence and the Riviera — Aix, the Var, the Alpes-Maritimes
• Paris and the Île-de-France — apartment deliveries with their own access rules

Retiring rather than relocating

A large share of moves from here to France are people retiring rather than people taking a job, and that changes the shape of the work. Usually a part-household rather than a whole one, frequently with a gap between selling here and completing there, and almost always with decisions still to be made about what comes. All three of those are easier handled here, with storage and an honest survey, than sorted out at the far end.

Customs

A household move to France is a formal customs entry. It needs a detailed inventory in the form French customs expect, evidence you are transferring your normal residence, and the supporting documents for relief on personal effects — the French address, the previous UK address and the timing. We build the inventory at survey and prepare the declaration from it, and tell you at the start which documents have to come from you.

Dedicated vehicle or shared space

A dedicated vehicle means your dates and the fewest handlings. Shared space means a lower cost, a delivery window rather than a named day, and more handlings along the way. On a household with pieces you would mind losing, the handling count is a real argument for a dedicated vehicle, and we will make that argument rather than quietly selling the cheaper option.

Starting the move

Both addresses, rough dates, a sense of the volume, and whether shared space is an option for you. We will survey and quote in writing. See European removals for how the four compare.