Route pair
Removals from Essex
to France
The shortest of the four routes and by some distance the busiest. Out on the M25, across Kent, through the Channel and onto the French motorway network — a road move end to end, packed by the crew that arrives at your door in Essex.
Essex is well placed for a move to France: the M25 is on the doorstep from the western half of the county and a short run from the eastern half, and the crossings are an hour or so beyond it. The driving is the easy part. What has changed since Brexit is the paperwork, and that is now where the planning goes.
Who moves this route
Three groups, mostly. Families relocating for work — Paris, Lyon, the university cities. People buying a second home in Normandy, Brittany or the south-west and furnishing it. And retirement moves, which have been going to the Charente and the Dordogne for decades and still are.
Each wants something different. A work relocation is date-driven and usually takes a dedicated vehicle. A second-home furnish is shared space. A retirement move is a full household with a longer runway and more that deserves proper protection.
The route
From Brentwood, Epping and the western towns it is straight onto the M25. From Chelmsford, Colchester and the north it is the A12 south first; from Southend and Basildon the A127 or the A13, then the Dartford crossing. All of them meet the M20 across Kent — Folkestone for the tunnel, Dover for the ferry.
On the far side it is Calais or Coquelles, then the A16 or A26 south. The A28 and A13 for Normandy, the A11 for Brittany and the Loire, the A10 through Poitiers for the Charente and the Dordogne, and the A7 down the Rhône for Provence.
Where we deliver
- 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
Rural deliveries deserve a word. A farmhouse at the end of a track outside Ribérac poses the same question as a farmhouse outside Finchingfield: can the vehicle actually reach the door? We ask for photographs of the last few hundred metres before the load leaves and plan a transfer where one is needed.
Customs and paperwork
A household move to France is now a formal customs entry. In practice: 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 residence, and the timing.
We build the inventory at survey and prepare the declaration from it. Where something has to come from you — a rental contract, an attestation, a tax document — we say so at the start rather than the week before loading.
Why people go
Space, and what it costs. A house with land in the Charente is a different proposition from the equivalent outlay in the Essex commuter belt. Add a genuinely short journey home from northern France and the appeal is easy to understand. It is rarely a sudden decision.
Starting the move
Send both addresses, rough dates, a sense of the volume, and whether you would consider shared space. We will survey and quote in writing. The European removals page compares the vehicle options; Spain and Portugal run the same first leg, further.
Route detail
Moving to France — questions
Tunnel or ferry from Essex?
Either. From this county both mean the M25 anticlockwise and then the M20 — Folkestone for Le Shuttle, Dover for the ferry. Le Shuttle is quicker end to end; the Dover crossings sometimes suit a larger vehicle better. We book whichever fits the load.
Can you deliver to a rural French property?
Regularly. The question at the far end is the one we ask in north Essex: can the vehicle reach the door, or does the last stretch need something smaller? Send photographs of the approach before the load leaves.
What does French customs want?
A full inventory in the expected form, proof you are transferring your residence to France, and the documents supporting relief on personal effects — the French address, your previous UK address, and the timing of the move. We prepare it from the survey inventory.
Can you take tools, garden equipment and wine?
Tools and garden equipment yes, with fuel drained. Wine above personal quantities needs declaring properly. Firearms and vehicles sit outside a household inventory entirely and need their own route — tell us early if either applies.
Is shared space realistic to France?
Very. France sees the most frequent groupage movements of the four routes, so the wait for space is usually the shortest and the saving is still meaningful.
Can you move us back later?
Yes. A return move into the UK is a customs movement in the other direction with its own documentation. Same principle, different forms.
Next step
Moving from Essex to France?
Send both addresses, your rough dates and a sense of the volume. We will set out the route, the options and the paperwork order.