Greenwich → France
Removals from Greenwich to France
The closest of the four routes we run, and the one where the crossing is sometimes the longest part of the day. Everything else depends on one question: how far past Calais are you going?
The deciding question
There are two Frances, and they are not the same job
Anything in Hauts-de-France, Picardy or upper Normandy is genuinely close. Load in Greenwich, cross, deliver — the driving is the short part. Anything past the Loire is a different animal entirely: driver hours that have to be respected, an overnight built into the plan, and a delivery slot that has to be realistic rather than optimistic.
We do both. Knowing which one you are is the first thing we establish, because it shapes the vehicle, the crew and whether a part load makes more sense than a dedicated one.
What is worth putting on the van
Greenwich households tend to own the sort of furniture that rewards shipping. Some of what sits alongside it does not, and we would rather say so at survey than carry it eight hundred miles and watch you look at it doubtfully.
Travels well, ship it
- Solid period furniture — it was built to be moved and it survives the journey better than most modern flat-pack.
- Framed pictures and mirrors, in cases. They are the single most common thing people wish they had shipped.
- Books, in small boxes. Heavy but compact, and shipping them costs less than replacing a library.
- Anything with family history attached, which is not a logistics judgement but is usually the right one.
Think twice
- Tired upholstery. You are paying to carry a sofa the length of France to a house where it will look wrong.
- Large white goods. French kitchens are often fitted differently and the appliance may not fit the aperture.
- Garden pots and heavy planters. Enormous weight, easily replaced, and they break in transit more than anything else.
- Anything you have not used since the last time you moved. That test is unkind and it is accurate.
The paperwork, honestly
Moving to France is an import now, and French customs want to see that you are transferring your residence rather than shipping goods in to sell. The certificate of change of residence is the piece that takes longest to obtain, so start it the moment the move is decided rather than the month before.
The inventory is the piece that most often causes trouble. It has to describe contents rather than count cartons, and it has to match what is actually in the vehicle. Ours is written at survey and becomes the customs document, which is the only reliable way to keep those two things identical.
We do not quote clearance times. That is not our decision to make.
Where we deliver most
- Hauts-de-France and Normandy The close ones. Second homes and holiday properties, often part-furnished rather than emptied.
- Close enough that a load can be delivered and the vehicle back without an overnight. Stone houses with deep window reveals and narrow village streets — a shuttle is common.
- Brittany and the Pays de la Loire Long-established British communities inland from the Morbihan coast and around Dinan.
- Granite houses, lanes with hedges on both sides, and courtyards designed for a cart. We look at the approach on satellite before committing a long vehicle.
- Nouvelle-Aquitaine The Dordogne, the Charente and down towards the Landes. Retirements and renovation projects.
- The biggest average load size of any French region we serve, and the one where people most often move a whole household rather than a partial one.
- Occitanie and Provence Toulouse, Montpellier, the Hérault villages and the Var. The long drive.
- Hot in summer, which is a genuine consideration when you are unloading and when wax-polished furniture is sitting in a vehicle.
- Paris and the cities Work relocations, usually into an apartment.
- Smaller loads, harder access. Courtyard entrances, a lift built for two people and a briefcase, and a delivery window agreed with the building.
Weighing up more than one country? The European removals hub compares all four routes. If the Greenwich end is a period house, read period and conversion moves too — the handling side matters as much abroad as it does here.
Moving to France — your questions
How does a removal from Greenwich to France work?
We survey and inventory in SE10, prepare the customs documentation, load at your address, then run out via the A102 and the M25 to the M20 and the Channel. From Calais it is autoroute to your region. We deliver into the property, position the furniture and clear the packaging away.
What does French customs want to see?
Four things: a detailed inventory with values, a certificate of change of residence — usually from the mairie of your new commune or from the French consulate — proof of your French address, and identification. We compile and lodge the declaration; you supply the personal documents.
Will I pay duty on my furniture?
Normally not, because a genuine transfer of residence qualifies for relief on household goods you have owned and used. The relief rests entirely on the paperwork matching the load, which is why the inventory is written at survey rather than guessed at afterwards.
We are only part-furnishing a second home. Is that different?
Slightly, and it is worth saying so up front. A second home is not a transfer of residence, so the customs position is different and we will talk you through it. Practically it is usually a part load, which is the cheaper option anyway.
Can you collect from two addresses before we leave?
Yes, and it is common — the Greenwich house plus a storage unit, or a relative holding furniture. Tell us at survey so both pickups are built into the route rather than squeezed in.
Do you deliver into narrow village streets?
Often we cannot get a long vehicle in, and rural France is full of streets like that. We check the address on satellite beforehand and plan a shuttle where one is needed, so it is a plan rather than an improvisation.
What about wine and tools?
Tools travel fine once fuel is drained and nothing is pressurised. Wine in ordinary domestic quantities is normally treated as part of the household; a serious cellar has its own rules and we will flag it if yours qualifies.
Can you move us back later?
Yes. Return moves from France to London are a steady part of the work, and the paperwork simply runs the other way — a UK customs declaration on the way in.
Getting a quote for France
Send the Greenwich address, the French one, and a rough room list. The survey and the paperwork both start from there.