Removals from Kensington to France
A move from Kensington to France often carries more than furniture. The homes we clear on the W8 garden squares and around South Kensington tend to hold paintings, antiques and pieces with real history, bound for an apartment in the 7th or a house in Provence. We treat the crossing as an extension of the same white-glove care we bring to the collection.
The move itself is by road. We load in Kensington, run down to the Channel, and cross by Eurotunnel or ferry — your things on one vehicle from a Holland Park villa to a Paris flat, with the art and antiques crated and condition-noted before they leave the room.
White-glove packing for the journey
Fine art and antiques do not travel like sofas. We make bespoke crates for paintings, mirrors and sculpture, wrap gilt frames and marquetry against knocks and climate change, and condition-note valuable pieces before they are packed. A chandelier or a long-case clock is dismantled by people who have done it before, not improvised on the day.
For the ordinary contents of a grand home — the library, the china, the wardrobes — we use full export-standard packing and a careful loading order, so nothing shifts on the autoroute.
- Bespoke crating for paintings, mirrors, sculpture and antiques
- Condition-noting of valuable pieces before packing
- Specialist handling for pianos, chandeliers and long-case clocks
- One vehicle, Kensington door to French address — no re-handling
The route and post-Brexit customs
We leave Kensington on the A4/M4, join the M25, and drop to the coast for Eurotunnel at Folkestone or a Dover ferry; across at Calais it is the French autoroute network to your destination. Since Brexit a move to France is a customs export from the UK and an import into the EU.
For a genuine relocation, the transfer-of-residence relief means used household effects can usually enter without French import duty or VAT — against a detailed inventory and the right declaration, which we prepare. Works of art and antiques have their own documentation, and we handle that discreetly as part of the move. A second home is treated differently from a primary move, so we ask which yours is.
We collect across the Royal Borough — Kensington (W8), South Kensington (SW7) and West Kensington (W14) — and pack your France move at the door, with the art and antiques crated first. See our fine-art and antique handling for how the valuable pieces travel.
Kensington to France, answered
Can you move fine art and antiques to France?
Yes — it is much of what we do on this route. We make bespoke crates for paintings, mirrors, sculpture and antiques, condition-note valuable pieces, and handle the art documentation alongside the customs declaration.
How does the move travel from Kensington to France?
By road on one vehicle — out of W8/SW7/W14 via the A4/M4 and M25, across the Channel by Eurotunnel or ferry, and on the French autoroutes to your address. Your things stay on the same lorry throughout.
Do I pay French import duty after Brexit?
For a genuine relocation, the EU transfer-of-residence relief usually means used household effects enter without French import duty or VAT, against a proper inventory and declaration. A second home is treated differently — we clarify which applies.
Which parts of France do you cover?
Paris and the Île-de-France, Normandy, the Loire, the Dordogne, and Provence and the Côte d’Azur. The destination sets the routing once we are across the Channel.
Other European routes from Kensington
Get a quote for your move to France
Tell us about the property and the contents. We’ll return a considered, written quote.