hi John. We moved to Toulouse in June and used a firm called Langdon. We moved for my husbands work and Langdon do most of the relocations. They are based in Bristol. Would thoroughly recommend them.
We came over last July and got several quotes, mostly from local firms as I wanted to support local business. We also got a quote from Pickfords, just to compare. Pickfords were hundreds of pounds cheaper and the service was faultless. We were also featured on a Channel 5 programme following the firm, which gave us a brilliant record of that exciting time. Thumbs up all round :)
Try George White Shipping Full or part loads - http://www.georgewhiteeuropean.co.uk
Uk to SW France. a serious Trucker, Tough as old boots very friendly, helpful and professional.
When I moved here (Beziers) from shropshire i call the standard big name shippers they all quoted in excess of 3000 Euros. George came in at 1300 Euros. we have remained friends and now we have an exchange rate of local wine for UK missed produce (last week a smoked Gammon joint and some Crumpets !)
Hi John,
I sadly can't tell you who to use but I can warn you not to use HUNTS INTERNATIONAL, based in Redditch. They are possibly the worst removals company ever!
We were not members of this or any other forum at that time, to get recommendations from, so we chose them because they did storage and they sounded so helpful on the phone. It all changed down the line of course.
One thing I would suggest is whoever you choose have them pack your items as we found that unless they do the insurance is not worth the paper it is written on.
Anyway, all the very best for the move and your new life in this lovely country.
I too would endorse Anglo French removals. I moved at the end of January from the Tyne Valley to the Pyrenees in dreadful snowy conditions. They could not have been more helpful. Not one item, no not even a glass, broken or damaged. Very reasonable prices: whole or part loads.
agree with maria, Anglo French Removals were brilliant - great service at a fair price and cannot recommend them highly enough
for smaller removals use French Van Man (www.frenchvanman.eu) who was brilliant also - contact Scott if you have smaller or part-loads to bring down, nice guy and reasonable rates, like Anglo French he is the consumate professional
Hi John,
http://wheadonsremovals.co.uk/
We used this Sussex company who have plenty of experience especially moving from UK to France. We moved under extremely stressful circumstances (selling our house in the UK to the purchasers from hell!), but Brady Wheadon and his team were like a sanctuary of calm efficiency and helpfulness in the middle of the storm. We had to change our moving date three times inside one week and each time they rearranged their busy schedule around our needs and did so cheerfully. Couldn't recommend them highly enough. The removal, storage and delivery of our belongings to our chalet in the Alps went off without a hitch in spite of the early arrival of the snow and our somewhat rural mountainous location.
I wish you every success with your move. You'll find plenty of help on this excellent forum to answer all the questions that crop up as you go along.
In September we had two water harvesters delivered to Lot et Garonne by Reflex Moody's Ltd just outside Salisbury near Old Sarum. They travel frequently all over France, are reasonably priced and very accommodating - any sized load.
It sounds unlikely but have you considered half loads? Some firms will do part loads for cheaper. However if you have two households that may not be reasonable. As they all say get lots of quotes and be clear about what you want. Are they packing are you? Are you there to unload? Make sure you get insurance. We did it ourselves this year and are in SW France but the whole thing would have been easier with a firm doing it we would have avoided me driving down the Champs-Élysées in rush hour in a 3 tonne truck doing my own impersonation of John Cleese and my husband saying "most wives would be pleased if their husbands took them to Paris!!"
We used P&S removals ( advertise in etcetera ) in June 2013 they are a small independant firm, their price was at least £1000 below the nearest competitor ( both large and small company’s quoted for us) they are fully insured and were professional friendly and punctual, they were also the only company happy to give us exact times and dates for collection and delivery, we used them to pack as well and struggle to find fault with there service.
We moved from near Bradford Yorkshire to Burgundy just over 2 years ago and also moved 3 generations of 'stuff'. We used David Dale Removals of Harrogate ( google them). They were excellent, no breakages etc etc. It cost around £4k but was well worth it. We also had 4/5 quotes and they were second cheapest but their speed of response/customer service was excellent. Hope this helps
We moved our entire house contents within Scotland, then later from Scotland to France, and since have moved other stuff also from Scotland to here in Grenoble, all with Constantine Moving Services. They are based in central Scotland, and they have always been excellent. Our belongings were always extremely well packed.
Other moving experiences are with:
French firms twice - once down the road, and once from here to Dresden, and both times pretty horrific.
A German firm, Scheffler, who moved us back from Dresden to Grenoble. Not cheap, but incredibly well done.
Hi Elaine,
thanks for this - most helpful. I guess part of what you are paying for is less stress rather than just the physical task of moving the stuff….
…. and glad to hear that, despite the work involved in making the move, in the longterm you think it's been worth it :-)
Thanks again, John
We did the move ourselves, ended. Up hiring a second van and it still wasn’t enough.
It’s a very stressful time, and only for my husband being an excellent packer / stuffer, we old have needed a third van.
I got about 5 quotes from Ireland ranging from 5-8K, hence the “we’ll do that for a fraction of that price”. We even found a man with a van he quoted us 3500, we should have used him, it cost us that alone on hire, insurance, fuel, tolls etc etc.
So my tip is go online, get 5-6 quotes, and ask on these forums for personal recommendations. You are doing this well in advance, so you have the luxury of time.
Best of luck, it’s all stressful, but the end game is so worth it, and SW France is beautiful all year 
Hi Tony/Maria,
Thanks to you both for responding. It would be nice to avoid the cost of using a commercial company for the move but, unfortunately, it is going to be pretty much unavoidable (3 generations of people moving and 2 households; too much stuff to do ourselves with a 2000+ mile round trip). I've got some idea of what it might cost to do using one of the commercial firms (yep, I know, not cheap) and am now just looking for personal recommendations based on people's experiences (so thanks Maria, that's helpful).
Thanks again and best wishes,
John
My tip: as there is hundreds or even thousands removal companies available on the market, the best way is always compare, compare, compare … and compare. Even if you get similar rates, still you can get completely different scope of the services.
Hello Mary and welcome to the forum.
Did you mean to put a link to a Removal Company ??? Have you used them yourself ???
Hi Stella,
Yes, I have used website I have linked, but only to find moving firms serving my area. As I remember they offer comparison services.
Fair enough.
Which area of France are you in ???