This weekend is the last one we have with hubby before he goes back to work, so we thought we would make the best of it and celebrate everything Dorset has to offer.
We love exploring our County but there is one seaside town that I have been desperate to visit for some time – Lyme Regis, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to plan our visit when we found out it was its annual Fossil Festival this weekend.
We packed the kids in the car early, expecting the roads to be busy. We were pleasantly surprised and encountered not one queue on our journey. Having not been to Lyme Regis before we didn’t know where we could park, but everything was clearly signposted and we parked with ease. Paying for parking was a little more challenging though as hubby and I both though we had change, we hadn’t, and we had no phone signal to pay by phone. A bit of phone waving in the air around the car park finally worked as we found that one hotspot of signal and then we set off for the beach.
The walk down to the beach was steep and a little hair raising at one point as there was no barriers next to a small waterway. There was no doubt that Lyme Regis is quite simply a stunning seaside town though.
We spotted Horace the Pliosaur – a 35-foot Jurassic sea-lizard with a walk-in cinematic belly. Horace is an outdoor theatrical installation, accompanied by ‘palaeo-mechanic’ showman Dr Davidson and his dotty groom Jo. I picked up some free tickets for the kids for one of the shows as the kids took in their surroundings.
The Fossil Festival itself was set in a huge Marquee on the beach and the kids made a beeline for a Moroccan Fossil Kit, where they got to identify fossils and make their own displays to take home.
There is something for all ages – we looked for fossils hidden in sand, tiny fossils under the microscope, held a piece of the moon, made a volcano erupt and even took part in a CSI type reconstruction to see who or what had committed a very serious crime.
Almost all of the activities were free and staffed by friendly and knowledgable teams who were more than happy to answer the barrage of questions coming their way. The kids even got to take part in a spot of crafting too.
Isaac’s favourite activity was where he pretended to be a dinosaur and make footprints on a piece of paper. These footprints were then measured and compared to those of a dinosaur. Isaac was a Velociraptor who is faster than a Lion and Eliza an Oviraptor who is faster than a Giraffe – we even got to bring our footprints home too!
By now the kids were starting to get hungry so we headed outside for a spot of lunch before exploring the beach and Cobb. I had been surprised that the Lyme Regis beach was shingle, but in fact they have both!
We walked up to the Cobb to see where the famous pictures had been taken during the storms over the winter. Hubby and Kian walked over the top of it, whilst I stayed behind with the little ones.
They were fascinated by the harbour, as the tide had gone out and left some dogfish stranded on the sand.
We then headed back towards the Fossil Festival, stopping for the obligatory ice cream on the way.
We walked back through the tent, stopping to look at things we had missed before, before heading to see the show inside Horace the Pliosaur. Audiences are invited to get Horace ready for the day, brush his teeth and polish his flippers, before entering his belly on a cinematic journey with the Great Professor Humphrieson.
Travelling through Horace’s intestines, audiences handle a squishy eyeball and learn about the terrors of the Jurassic world, before becoming entangled in a frantic rescue mission! It is highly interactive and great fun, although Eliza wasn’t sure about getting in its tummy!
Meanwhile Kian enjoyed skimming some stones before we headed back to the car through the picturesque town.
Thank you for a great day Lyme Regis, we will be back soon!
What a great idea- never heard of a fossil festival, looks like you and the kids had fun!
This looks SO much fun! My boys would adore this! There are so many exciting things to do but I can never find many advertised. This is on our list too now!
I love Lyme Regis, lovely to bump into you on your way home too! Looks like a fab day out, will be keeping my eye out for this next year, I always seem to miss stuff through being disorganised!
I will remind you :0)
We’ve never been to Lyme Regis but it’s not on our to do list 🙂
I love this part of the country. An amazing collection of photos you have there – looks like you all had a fab time 🙂
This looks absolutely brilliant. Do you think it would work for slightly older children too (mine are 12 and 9)? Thanks
My 13 year old loved it too – there was lots to keep all ages entertained!
This post has brought back happy memories of our summer holiday a couple of years back, it is absolutely one of my favourite places ever. Next time we go I’d like to do some fossil hunting.
This looks like a lot of fun- never heard of a fossil festival before but I remember looking for fossils when I was younger – it is such a fun activity!
Looks like such a fun day out but that walk down would have scared the life out of me! x
We LOVE going to Dorset – haven’t been for a few years now, and you’re so lucky to be living in such a beautiful part of our country!
Lyme Regis is a must visit place for us – for the dinosaurs and fossils, which my son was so in to when he was younger, and the beach is gorgeous too! I love the footprints on the bottom of welly boots – what a fun time you had at the festival!
oh this would be great! My girls would love it so much
What a brilliant day out! We love Lyme Regis and went a couple of weeks ago as my oldest was desperate to go fossil hunting – he would have LOVED this festival, I’m so annoyed we missed it as it looks great. It’s such a beautiful place.
I used to live in Dorset for a few years and have visited LR before. Really nice to see your pictures as they bought back some wonderful memories.
I like the sea horses and the reptile feet!!
Looks like a fab way to spend a day. I too would be uneasy about the journey into a tummy! I was always intrigued by fossils- I can’t wait for the children to be a little older to go exploring proper!
We love Dorset too, and the Fossil Festival looks really fun. I especially like the look of that dinosaur footprints activity. We have never taken the kids to Lyme Regis before but it looks like we’d have a lovely day.
Horace looks proper scary! Love the idea of a fossil festival. A wonderful way to introduce evolution to young minds.
This sure sounds like a great trip to a lovely seaside. You remind me that I need to find out where and when interesting sights ar ein my area.
Wow – what a great experience! Me and the kids have always loved Lyme Regis and been successful finding fossils in the past too. My son adored it when he was younger.
The festival looks fantastic. It looks like there were a lot of activities for the children to get involved in. I wish they would do something fun like this in our area.
looks like a fun way to spend a weekend, and that you had nice weather. Lucky you living near to Lyme Regis – we had a lovely meal there a couple of years ago at Hix.
Wow this festival look amazing, F would have loved it especially making dinosaur footprints. I must take him there soon. x
Oooh what a great find and a lovely day too! My son would have loved this, I will be keeping my eyes peeled to see if there’s anything similar near me 🙂
This looks great and something we’d all enjoy as a family
love Lyme Regis can’t wait to fossil hunt there with W soon! x