TICKETS are set to go on sale next month to see Britain’s most famous dinosaur in Dorset.

Dippy the Diplodocus, a 21-metre-long and four-metre tall skeleton cast known to millions from its usual home in the Natural History Museum, is coming to the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester next year.

He will fill the museum’s Victorian Gallery when he visits between February 10 and May 8 on the first stop of Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure.

Dr. Jon Murden, Director of Dorset County Museum, said: “We have pupils from across the South West region, painting and modelling their own Dippys, and learning about where and how dinosaurs lived all those years ago.

“It’s just brilliant to see their enthusiasm and we can’t wait to welcome them here to the museum so they can see Dippy up close and personal.

“Can you imagine how these children are going to react when they walk into the Victorian Gallery for the first time to see Dippy towering over them.”

Entrance to the Dippy Exhibition is free with visitors being allocated specific time slots on a first come first served basis, however people are being urged to book early to avoid disappointment.

The general public ticket reservation site will go live at 12noon on Sunday, October 1, at dorsetcountymuseum.org/dippyontour

Dippy has delighted people since he arrived in London in 1905.

With generous support from the Garfield Weston Foundation, Dippy will visit seven other venues during his three-year tour.

Philippa Charles, Director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “Generations of children have been awestruck by Dippy’s spectacular presence at the heart of the Natural History Museum and we hope he continues to inspire the nation to rediscover nature as he works his way round the UK."

In addition to the Dippy on Tour exhibition, visitors can see the museum’s collection of rare dinosaur fossils and artefacts collected from the Jurassic Coastal shoreline including the fossilised skull of a Pliosaur, a crocodile like creature that lived in the waters around Dorset 155 million years ago.