Travelling to Europe from Kent will get a little easier with a forthcoming change in the Eurostar timetable.

December 13 is the day when railway timetables change across Europe - and this year will see big changes in Kent.

As well as the launch of the high speed domestic services, Eurostar is stopping a Lille service at Ashford earlier in the day , giving people a three-hour head start on todya's services.

The change in the timetable also provides more time to travel deeper into France that same day.

A Eurostar spokesman said: “This is about flexibility, giving people more opportunity to have business meetings or go on shopping trips in the Nord-Pas de Calais region and return the same day.

“It also gives customers more time to travel earlier into the middle and south of France.”

At present the only direct train for Lille from Ashford International Station leaves at 10.28am* and arrives in the French city at 12.28pm.

Changes from December 13 include the provision of a 6.57am from Ashford International Station arriving at Lille at 9.07am and terminating at Brussels at 9.42am.

That return train will leave Lille at 5.35pm and gets to Ashford at 5.33pm, thanks to the time difference.

This provides more than eight hours for a day in Lille and its surrounding area against the five-plus hours with the present timetable.

The new timetable continues until July 3 and can be viewed in full on the Eurostar website www.eurostar.com from this week.

*All times quoted are local to their country.