Leaving the county
Moving abroad from Kent
This county is where most of Britain's road freight leaves the country, so a move from here into Europe is ordinary work rather than a special project. The crossing is the easy part and the paperwork is a known quantity.
What catches people out abroad is exactly what catches them out at home: the last few hundred metres.
Four routes, four kinds of last road
France for hameau lanes and village arches that would be entirely familiar to anybody off a Kent byway. Germany for the courtyard archway into a rear building. Spain for the choice between an old-town street and a gated urbanización with a height limit. Portugal for calçada paving, gradient and the unmade approach.
Removals from Kent to France
Rural France and rural Kent have the same problem in two languages: a gateway built before lorries.
- Normandy and the Pas-de-Calais
- Brittany
- The Loire and the centre
- The south-west
Removals from Kent to Germany
A Hinterhaus flat is reached through the front building. That archway is the number that matters.
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- Hesse and Frankfurt
- Bavaria
- Hamburg and the north
Removals from Kent to Spain
The barrier at the urbanización entrance is not the problem. The height of the beam above it is.
- Costa Blanca
- Costa del Sol
- Catalonia and the north-east
- Madrid and the interior
Removals from Kent to Portugal
Calçada is beautiful, and under a loaded sack truck in the rain it is a skating rink.
- Lisbon and the Estoril coast
- The Silver Coast
- Porto and the north
- The Alentejo
The county the freight leaves from
Two crossings within a few miles of each other, two motorways running the length of the county to reach them, and a haulage industry built around both. An international move from Kent starts closer to the water than one from anywhere else in Britain, which takes a whole day's driving out of the plan before anything is loaded.
It also means the crossing itself is routine. Choosing between a shuttle and a sailing is a booking decision made on timings, not a planning problem.
And the part that is not routine
The last road at the far end, which is why each of these four pages is written round it. A French hameau lane and a Kent byway have the same problem in two languages. A German Hofeinfahrt is an archway measured for a cart, exactly like a Kent farm gateway. A Spanish urbanización has a height limit over the barrier that stops a lorry as effectively as a low bridge in the Darent valley.
None of that is exotic and all of it is measurable. What it is not is discoverable at eight in the morning with a loaded vehicle at the end of the street.
Origins across the UK
A vehicle heading for a Kent crossing passes a great deal of the country on the way. We collect from across Kent, and from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol where the routing works — for whole households and for part-loads being consolidated before departure.
Holding, rather than forcing a date
A great many European purchases are restorations, and delivering a household into a house with the floors up is worse abroad than at home because nobody is coming back next week to move things. Goods can be collected here on the date that is certain and held until the far end is genuinely ready.
Moving abroad
Questions about leaving the county
01 Which crossing do you use?
The Eurotunnel shuttle from Folkestone or a ferry from Dover, chosen on sailings and on what suits the load. Both leave from this county, so neither is difficult to arrange and neither materially changes the plan.
02 Why do your country pages talk about roads rather than culture?
Because that is what decides your move. Whether a removals vehicle can reach the door in Cologne or Cascais is a practical question with a measurable answer, and it is the one nobody asks until the vehicle is at the end of the street.
03 What should we find out about the far end?
The width of the last road, the height and width of any archway or gate, whether there is a height limit at a barrier or a garage ramp, and whether a vehicle can turn round. Photographs answer all four faster than measurements do.
04 Who handles the customs paperwork?
We prepare the half that comes from the inventory — the described list, the export declaration and the import entry — before the vehicle reaches the terminal. The half attached to you as a person has to come from you, and each country page sets out which is which.
05 Can you collect from outside Kent?
Yes. We collect across the county and from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol where the routing works. Ask and we will say plainly whether it does.
06 Can the move be split into stages?
Frequently the right answer, particularly on a restoration. Goods are collected on the date that is certain, listed and held here, then delivered in loads as the building allows.
Where is it going?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and anything you know about the approach at the far end. We will tell you what it means for the vehicle.