I was very excited to hear that the Queen is visiting South Somerset today – I found out courtesy of Facebook a few days ago when my friend announced her little girl had been selected to meet Her Majesty whilst she tours Somerset as part of her jubilee celebrations.

So I was tempted to take a sneaky afternoon off and hop down to Yeovil – a little way away from Bristol, but as I’m originally from Chard it feels like home! – until I got into the office this morning and read the Royal party’s itinerary!

Courtesy of YeovilPeople.co.uk:

Route 1 – Yeovil Pen Mill railway station to Ninesprings Country Park.
10.00am: Train arrives at Pen Mill Station – depart by car – right out of the station on to the A30 Sherborne Road, Straight on Reckleford and dual carriageway, straight on at the Hospital roundabout into the Queensway, left at the Horsey roundabout (police station) into Brunswick Street. First right into the Goldenstones Leisure Centre car park and the venue Ninesprings.
10.10am: Arrive at venue. [Diamond Jubilee Fayre being held in her honour]
Route 2 – Ninesprings to Crewkerne.
10.25am: Depart and turn left onto Brunswick Street, left at the Horsey roundabout on to the A30 Hendford Hill. Follow A30 all the way to Crewkerne passing through West Coker and East Chinnock.
10.40am: Arrive via the A30 (East Street) at the Market Square.
Route 3 – Crewkerne Town Hall to Maiden Beech Academy (HLS).
10.55am: Depart Market Square, straight on into Market Street, ignore left turn onto the A356 and keep straight on into the B3165 Hermitage Street towards Lyme Regis. Mini roundabout continue straight on the B3165 Lyme Road. Left into access road for Maiden Beech Academy.
11.00am: Arrive at Maiden Beech Academy and depart by air.
There will be plenty of opportunities to catch a glimpse of the Royal party as they are driven through the streets of South Somerset along the Royal route.

Oh my goodness what a busy schedule! Yeovil and Crewkerne inside an hour?! I’d allow more than 15 minutes to get from Yeovil to Crewkerne… although I guess she’ll probably have an escort. And 15 minutes at the fayre is quite a flying visit considering all the effort Yeovil will have gone to. And just 5 minutes to get from the centre of Crewkerne to Maiden Beech and take off in a plane/helicopter?! You can drive it in 5 minutes but have they actually allowed time for everyone to get in and out of the car?! Maybe she’s not getting out of the car in Crewkerne…

Then she’s being whisked away to Exeter.

All in all, it’s a pretty hectic schedule I think, especially for someone in their later years. I’m not particularly a “royalist” but to any one who says the Queen doesn’t do anything – just imagine having every minute of your day planned that precisely A LOT! Once in a while it’d be fun, but I expect she has many days where she’s just got to be pulled this way and that. OK, she has lots of people to help organise her and she just has to go with the flow, but it is tiring being on the go and travelling, not to mention being all chatty and smiley when you arrive each time. It’d be a pretty early start to get a train from London (if that’s where she started) to Yeovil by 10am too.

Anyway, I very much hope she enjoys her Jubilee year and if she ventures to North Somerset or Bristol, I think I’ll try and go along!