Lyme Regis Museum Fossil Festival Programme - May 5th and 6th

FREE ENTRY TO OUR AWARD-WINNING MUSEUM
See superb fossils and William Buckland’s coprolite table. Discover the extraordinary story of Mary Anning and see archives that shed light on the geologists she associated with – this weekend only from Museum of Wales.
SATURDAY and SUNDAY 10am-4pm
Ammonite Polishing

Polishing has never been this much fun – turn your ammonite into the most glittery fossil of all time, with help from Paddy, Chris, Harry and Ben.
Small charge for the ammonite.  Venue: marquee.
SATURDAY and SUNDAY 11am-3pm
Paint your own Fossil Plaster Cast
Make and take home – family fun activities with Phil Anslow.
Small charge for materials.  Venue: marquee.
SATURDAY 9.45am and SUNDAY 10.45am
Family Fossil Hunting Walk
Get hands-on on the Jurassic Coast with the museum’s celebrity fossil hunters Paddy Howe and Chris Andrew. Educational and fun. Maximum of 15 people per guide. Walk takes 3 hours.
To book – telephone 01297 443370 or email
Adults £10, Children £5.  Meet at museum. 
SATURDAY 11am and SUNDAY 3pm
Mary Anning and her Geologist Friends
Share the thoughts of the 19th-century gentlemen fossil hunters who became Mary Anning’s friends. Illustrated by archives from National Museum of Wales, Tom Sharpe talks about the unusual relationships between Mary Anning and Buckland, Conybeare and De la Beche.
FREE no booking required. Suitable for age 12 and above.  
Venue: museum.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 12noon
Dinner with Dr Buckland
Nineteenth-century scientist-clergyman William Buckland boasted that he had eaten his way through the whole of animal creation. Neither sentimentality nor revulsion stopped him devouring slices of crocodile, hedgehogs, puppies and mice. Join him for dinner! Harry Ford plays Dr Buckland in a performance of William Plomer’s outrageous comic verse.
FREE no booking required.  Venue: museum.
SATURDAY 1.30pm
Mary Anning Walk
Explore the paths and streets of Old Lyme as Mary Anning knew them with guide Natalie Manifold. Walk takes about 1½ hours.
To book – telephone 01297 443370 or email
Adults £6, Children £3.  Meet at museum.
SATURDAY 3pm and SUNDAY 11am
What Kept Ammonites Afloat?
Insight into the lifestyle of Lyme’s quintessential fossils; how they lived, were bitten and played host to hitch-hiking worm tubes! A reconstruction of the lifespan of an ammonite, by Prof Chris Paul.
FREE no booking required. Suitable for age 12 and above.  
Venue: museum.