How close are we to the crossing?

Closer than almost anywhere inland. The domestic leg from DA11 to Folkestone is the shortest on this site, which makes the route straightforward — but the paperwork is unaffected by geography.

Can you do a part-load?

Yes, and for a second home it is usually right. A part-load shares a vehicle with other consignments going the same way: less to pay, departing when the route fills rather than when you choose.

We are merging two households, one here and one in France. Is that a problem?

Not a problem, but it needs describing accurately on the declaration. Tell us the real arrangement at survey and we will set out what the file requires.

Will our furniture fit a French house?

Measure the stairs, the door heads and any courtyard archway at the viewing and send us the numbers. British suburban furniture and French rural doorways are not designed around each other.

Do we pay duty on our own furniture?

Not where you qualify for transfer of residence relief and the file is correct. It is conditional on your residence status and on an inventory that describes actual contents.

Fuel, gas cylinders, open paint and garden chemicals are refused here exactly as on a domestic move, and soil and plant material are restricted on top. Deal with it before the day.

Gravesend to France

Removals from Gravesend to France

Gravesend sits closer to the Channel than almost any town that is not on the coast, which makes France the easy route on paper and the one people therefore underprepare for. The drive is short. The customs file is exactly the same size as it would be from Aberdeen.

Proximity to the crossing shortens the journey. It does not shorten the paperwork.

Who takes this route from Gravesend

Households relocating for work to Paris and the Île-de-France, usually into markedly less floor space.
Second-home owners in Normandy and the Pas-de-Calais moving part-loads in both directions.
Retirements and long-stay moves to the Charente and the south-west, frequently combined with a downsize.

The road out of DA11

From DA11 the vehicle joins the A2, runs down to the M20 and crosses on the Eurotunnel shuttle at Folkestone. It is the shortest domestic leg on this entire site. For a loaded removals vehicle the shuttle beats a ferry on most schedules: short crossing, vehicle sealed, driver stays with it.

Calais divides the map. West along the A16 for Normandy and the Channel coast; south-east on the A26 towards Reims and the Rhône; and the A28 through Rouen and Le Mans for everything in the south-west.

Where we deliver

Pas-de-Calais and the Somme The shortest run of all — frequently a same-day delivery from a Gravesend collection.

Normandy and the Cotentin Good roads and forgiving access, with stone farmhouses the exception.

Paris and the Île-de-France Courtyards, a stone stair with a fixed turn, and a pavement permit arranged ahead.

Brittany and the Loire Rennes, Vannes and Nantes, and lanes that are worth measuring first.

Charente and the south-west Gravel approaches and archways built long before anything articulated.

Customs, and describing it accurately

France is outside the UK customs union, so a household move is an export and an import even where every item in it is second-hand. Transfer of residence relief keeps it free of duty for somebody genuinely changing where they live, and it turns on the inventory.

Who obtains what

Document	Obtained by	What it is
Detailed inventory (valued)	Us	Written at your Gravesend property during the survey and checked again at loading. This is what customs reads.
Proof the UK address has ended	You	A completion statement, a closing council tax bill, or the ending tenancy agreement.
Proof of the French address	You	Deeds, a signed lease, or an attestation from the mairie once you are registered.
Passport and residence status	You	Copies for the file. Your status decides whether the relief applies at all.
Export declaration	Us	Raised on the UK side against the inventory before the vehicle reaches the terminal.
Import entry and relief claim	Us	Lodged with French customs through our agent, against the same inventory.

Rows marked You are the ones that hold a load up when they are started late, so begin those first. Rows marked Us are built here from the inventory taken at your Gravesend property.

One household or two?

The question this site asks everywhere applies at a border as well. Transfer of residence relief attaches to a person who is changing their residence and bringing their own used effects with them. Where a load is actually two households merging, or one household splitting with half the furniture going abroad, the position needs stating accurately rather than simplified for convenience.

That is not a warning; it is a reason to tell us the real shape at the survey. We will establish what the file genuinely needs, and we will not describe a consignment on a declaration as something it is not.

The other Gravesend-specific point is timing. Because the crossing is close, people book late on this route and assume the short drive absorbs any delay. It does not. The export declaration has to be raised before the vehicle reaches the terminal, and that work starts from an inventory made days earlier at your house.