Removals from Feltham to France

The first leg from Feltham is genuinely short: the M3 is minutes away and the M25 barely further, which puts a French load on a motorway before most loads have cleared their own borough. The thing that decides it is the hour you finish loading, so we plan the departure against that rather than against an optimistic guess.

The route

onto the M3 or round the M25, then down to the Kent crossings 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

The airport is not the port

People this close to Heathrow sometimes assume a European move flies. Almost none do — household goods go by road because volume costs more in the air than it does on a lorry, by a margin nothing closes. What being near the airport actually gives you is a short run to the M25 and a straightforward first leg. The paperwork, the packing specification and the destination access are the same as they would be from anywhere else.

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.