Luxury transport and long-distance journeys from Aylesham

What luxury transport from Aylesham means

Here, luxury transport means an executive saloon with a driver, for your party alone, booked ahead at a price agreed before you travel. Exclusive means exactly that: the car is yours for the trip, it waits where you need it, and nobody else shares it.

The executive class carries up to four people with two or three large cases. Each driver is licensed for private hire by a local council, which requires an enhanced DBS check, and each car is licensed, inspected and insured for carrying paying passengers.

Weddings and celebrations at Goodnestone Park

Goodnestone Park, the Queen Anne house built in 1704 and once visited by Jane Austen, is one of the settings for weddings, private celebrations and corporate events in the villages around Aylesham. Its gardens open to visitors, and the house can be taken for exclusive-use stays.

For a wedding there, cars can bring guests from Gatwick or Heathrow, take the couple or the family between home and the venue, and collect guests once the evening is over. Give the finishing time when you book, and where each guest is going next, whether that is a house in the villages, a hotel or an airport the following morning.

A car and driver by the hour or by the day

As-directed hire keeps an executive car and its driver with you for as many hours as the day needs. It works for an evening in London that ends with dinner after the theatre, a day of house viewings, a round of appointments, or an anniversary when nobody should have to drive.

Share the plan at booking: the first pickup, the stops in order and roughly when you expect to finish. Stops added along the way and big route changes can be charged on top, so a clear plan gives a clear price.

Cruise ports: Dover and Southampton

Dover is the nearest cruise port to Aylesham, 8.5 miles south-east down the A2. Its ships use two purpose-built cruise terminals, CT1 and CT2, on the Western Docks; the cruise schedule or your cruise line's documents show where yours will berth, and the car heads for that terminal.

Southampton is a long-distance run, but many cruises sail from there. It has three cruise terminals in the Western Docks, City, Horizon and Mayflower, and two more, Ocean and QE II, in the Eastern Docks. The cruise line's paperwork names yours.

Cruise luggage takes room. An estate carries four people and three or four large cases; an MPV carries six people and four or more. Book the return with the date the ship docks, the terminal and the time your cruise line expects passengers to leave the ship, and the car will be waiting to bring you home.

Long-distance journeys across the UK

Aylesham was built by families who came from every coalfield in Britain, many from South Wales, Scotland and the North East. A long-distance car can follow those roads in reverse for a family celebration, a funeral or a visit, starting on the A2 and the M2 and joining the wider motorway network at the M25.

London is the long trip most people think of first, for a show, a hospital appointment or a flight from somewhere else. Other UK cities are covered too. However far you go, the price for the car is agreed before you leave.

On a very long day, plan a break or two into the booking. A stop for lunch at a motorway services that was arranged in advance is part of the journey you booked, while a stop added on the way can be charged as an extra.

Choosing the car for the occasion

For a couple or a small party, the executive saloon is the natural choice, and a standard saloon also takes four. For a family group, or a cruise with plenty of luggage, choose the MPV. Child seats are available if you ask when booking.

• Executive: a party of four, two or three big cases
• Saloon: a party of four, two big cases
• Estate: a party of four, three or four big cases
• MPV: a party of six, four big cases or more

How the price works on a long trip

The online booking system shows one price for the car before you confirm, and slow traffic, roadworks, a diversion, a weekend or a bank holiday leave it unchanged. Extras arise only when the trip changes: time spent waiting past the free period, unplanned stops, a big detour you ask for, and car park fees or tolls on the road. A journey north of the Thames, for instance, may use the Dartford Crossing, which normally charges between 6am and 10pm.

Book on the website, ring 01843 247247, or use WhatsApp or email. Online payment takes Revolut, Klarna, Google Pay, Apple Pay and cards, and the code ExpressTravelKent takes 10% off.