West Sussex → France
Removals from West Sussex to France
From a Chichester townhouse or a Downs village to a home in the Dordogne, Paris or Provence — a household move to France, planned end to end and carried by one team.
France is the most travelled of our European routes, and the reasons are as varied as the country. We have moved retirees to stone houses in the south-west, families to jobs around Paris, and downsizers swapping a Sussex village for more sun and more space on the coast. What ties those moves together is not the destination — it is the wish for the whole thing to be handled properly, so that arriving in France feels like the start of something rather than the end of an ordeal.
A move from West Sussex to France is a road move, and a long one. We survey your home first, pack it with proper materials, and drive south — so the same people who wrapped your grandmother’s dresser near Arundel are the ones who carry it into a farmhouse near Bergerac. That continuity is the point.
What we move
Full households, mostly — the furniture, the kitchen, the books and the things that make a house yours. We handle the awkward and the precious with particular care: pianos, antiques, artwork, wine and garden pieces have all made the trip. If you are taking only part of a home — furnishing a holiday place, or moving into something smaller — a shared load lets you send what matters without paying for a whole van you do not need.
The route
Out of the county you are onto the A23 and M23 up to the M25 and round to the Kent coast, crossing by ferry from Dover or on the Eurotunnel shuttle at Folkestone. For some homes a Newhaven–Dieppe ferry gives a shorter run to Normandy. From Calais the French autoroute network opens up: the A26 and A1 towards Paris, the A10 for the Loire, Poitou and on to Bordeaux and the south-west, or the A6 and A7 — the old Autoroute du Soleil — down the Rhône to Provence and the Mediterranean. We plan the crossing and the driving around the realities of the road rather than a best-case guess, and for the deep countryside we work out the last narrow lanes before we set off.
Customs and paperwork
Since Brexit, taking a household into France means clearing customs — and that is the part we manage for you. Belongings going to your main home qualify for a recognised relief, and the move runs on a detailed, valued inventory together with the transit and customs documents that carry your goods across the border. We prepare all of it with you, explain what each form is for, and take the load through the crossing correctly. It is the piece people dread most, and the piece we most want to take off their hands.
Why people move here
France rewards the move. There is the space and the stone — a budget that buys a flat in the South East buys a garden and a barn in the Charente — and there is the rhythm: the markets, the long lunches, the sense that ordinary life is meant to be enjoyed rather than endured. The practicalities stack up too, with good schools, fast trains and a healthcare system that draws plenty of families across for good. We will not sell you the dream — you already have it, or you would not be moving — but we will make sure the boxes arrive as well cared-for as the plan.
West Sussex → France
Moving to France — your questions
How do removals from West Sussex to France work?
We survey and pack your home in the county, load a van, and drive to a Channel crossing — usually Dover or the Eurotunnel, or a Newhaven ferry where it suits — then run on down the French autoroutes to your new address. One team stays with the move from your West Sussex door to the far end, so your belongings are not handed between depots along the way.
Do you go to all of France, or only certain regions?
All of it. We run regularly to Paris and the Île-de-France, Normandy and Brittany just across the water, the Loire and the Dordogne, and down to Provence and the Côte d’Azur. Rural and hard-to-reach properties are common on this route, so we plan the last few lanes as carefully as the motorway miles.
What about customs and paperwork after Brexit?
For belongings you are taking to a main home in France there is a recognised customs relief, and the move runs on an itemised, valued inventory plus the transit and customs documents. We prepare all of it with you and route the load through the crossing properly — you will not be left filling in forms at the border.
Can I send a part-load rather than a whole van?
Yes. If you are not filling a lorry, a shared load — your goods consolidated with other moves heading to France — is often the sensible choice. A dedicated load runs to your own schedule instead. We will explain which suits what you are moving.
Which part of West Sussex do you collect from?
Anywhere in the county — Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Worthing, Bognor Regis and the villages between. If your move to France starts near Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton or Guildford instead, it can often join the same route.
How long does a move to France take?
It depends on where in France you are going, the crossing, and whether your goods travel as a dedicated or shared load. Rather than promise a figure we cannot hold, your written quote sets out an estimated window once we know the detail of your move.
We collect for France from right across West Sussex — Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Worthing, Bognor Regis, Arundel and the villages between — and can pick up near Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton or Guildford where a route allows.
Start here
Moving from West Sussex to France?
Tell us where in the county you are leaving from and where in France you are headed, and we will send a clear, written quote — route, load type and customs included.