ANDY'S DINO RAPS - BREWERY SQUARE, DORSET

If you have children of a certain age, they will no doubt be familiar with Andy Day and his dinosaur adventures. It's staple viewing in this house and has been since Elliot was old enough to know what a dinosaur was!! And if you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that we are big fans of Andy!

Brewery Square in Dorchester recently announced that Andy would be coming along on Easter weekend to perform some of his dino raps so of course we knew we had to be there! Elliot was insistent he was to wear his Andy costume so the weeks leading up to the show were mostly spent googling "how to make a gizmo"... 

The day of the show dawned and Elliot and I made our way down to Dorchester on the train. This itself was a bit of a novelty for Elliot as we rarely go anywhere on the train despite living just minutes away from the station! Erin was spending the day with my parents and my husband working, so it was lovely to have the day just with Elliot to spend some quality time together. 

We were quite early arriving into Dorchester so we decided to have a go at the Easter Egg trail - this was a brilliant, free initiative run by Brewery Square. We had to find 20 pictures of Easter eggs that were hidden around the square in shops and restaurants. Most were on the front windows but a few were hidden inside and it took a bit more searching! 

As luck would have it, we bumped into Andy by chance as he arrived to set up the stage - Elliot ran across the square shouting "Andy!!!!!" - I hope Andy wasn't hoping to sneak in without anyone noticing because I'm sure the whole of Dorchester heard Elliot's voice ;)

Midway through our easter egg trail, we noticed that it was starting to get quite busy so we decided to get a spot near the front of the stage while we could and continue looking for eggs after the shows. Turned out to be a good plan because it quickly got very very busy and it seemed to be standing room only in the square! 

It wasn't long before Andy came on stage much to the audience's delight - there were certainly a lot of little excited faces and I'm pretty sure most of the parents knew just as many lyrics as their kids! Elliot was right down the front and it was hilarious watching him dancing and roaring away. 

At one point Andy started talking about the next rap and how it was about a species who were ancestors of early man. Elliot turned round to look at me with a massive grin on his face and he knew exactly what the rap was! He shouted out "Australopithecus!!!" at the top of his voice, hilarious! 

With lots of audience participation, and even some dad dancing, the show was a big hit with the crowd and I guarantee most people left with the Gigantoraptor song stuck in their heads!!  

Luckily for the people of Dorchester, Andy was performing twice so we had a bit of time between the two shows to finish off our easter egg trail and grab some lunch. Brewery Square has lots of places to eat including Nandos and Zizzis but it was absolutely packed so we headed up to the high street for some food, and also a chance to warm up. 

Andy's second show seemed even busier than the first and there were definitely more people squeezing in near us at the front. Elliot enjoyed himself immensely again! (And yes, he shouted out Australopethecus....and mumosaurus....and Gigantoraptor....sorry Andy!)

After the show had finished we were lucky enough to be on the meet and greet list (thank you to Charlotte at Brewery Square for arranging this) so we headed across to the Premier Inn to meet our friends and get in line. Elliot had his costume back on, his gizmo was ready and he was clutching an envelope of drawings for Andy! It was a fab meet and greet, we didn't feel rushed at all and the boys spent lots of time chatting to Andy about their pictures. It's funny looking back at the very first time we met Andy in 2014, Elliot was so shy and quiet and literally went mute. And in the photos he looks terrified! It's the complete opposite now, we can't shut him up ;) 

Soon our time was up and we said our goodbyes, Elliot and Luke were buzzing! We rounded off the day with a quick trip to see Dippy again - thought we'd make the most of it while he's still here in Dorset. It was much quieter than our last visit too so we were able to head straight to the special selfie panel to take some photos. 

We had a fantastic day out - thank you Andy and Brewery Square! 

                                                                        

DIPPY THE DINOSAUR IN DORSET!

If you've ever visited the Natural History Museum, you've more than likely seen Dippy the Diplodocus. Residing there from 1905 to 2017 he was almost part of the furniture!

This year Dippy was carefully dismantled and has travelled down to Dorset for the first leg of his countrywide tour. Here in Dorset we are very proud of our Jurassic Coastline and dinosaur history so it seems perfect for him to begin his tour here!

As you might have guessed from previous posts, Elliot is dinosaur crazy so I was really excited that he would get to see Dippy close up. The tickets were released last year and I made sure I had the date saved in my calender so we wouldn't miss out!

Last Saturday we made our way over to the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester and queued up with lots of other excitable children. Lots of the businesses in Dorchester are flying Dippy flags outside their premises so there's been a real buzz about his arrival. You can also follow Dippy sized footprints from Brewery Square. We arrived abit late to do this but will definitely be looking out for the footprints on our next trip to Dorchester!

not sure why he felt the need to have his mint hanging out of his mouth!!

Once inside the museum, you have the option of just seeing Dippy (which your free tickets cover) or paying to see the rest of the museum too. We decided to pay to see the rest of the museum too, we've never been before and it seemed a shame not to as we were there! I think it only cost £16 for 2 adults and one child (under 5s are free) so it's very affordable.

Because the tickets are done in hour slots (ours was 10am), we found there was a massive rush to see Dippy on the hour. One of the members of staff gave us a really good tip and told us to go and explore the rest of the museum for a bit and come back in half an hour when the crowds had dispersed. This was really useful and I'd highly recommend others doing this!

We headed up to the top floor of the museum which is where all the dinosaur displays are - Elliot was in his element! It was really interesting to learn all about the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur - the largest marine reptile that ever lived. A fossilised pliosaur skull was discovered on the nearby Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and it's one of the best preserved fossils of its kind ever found. It's certainly impressive, his mouth is humungous!!

After tearing Elliot away from the fossil displays we headed back downstairs to finally see Dippy where he is currently hanging out in the gorgeous Victorian Hall. Measuring 21.3m he literally takes up the entire length of the hall, any bigger and I think they'd need an extension!!

As we walked the length of the hall, there were lots of plaques to read giving us facts about Dippy. Elliot's favourite one which he told to everyone he has met since is, Dippy's tail is longer than his neck!

When we got to the far end of the hall we reached Dippy's head. There was a large glass panel which made it really easy to take a pic with Dippy - the kids loved it!

We spent a bit more time in the Victorian Hall and it was great to see Dippy from different angles.

We went to investigate the rest of the museum and we found some really interesting displays such as the Ancient Dorset one which focused on the Romans, Saxons and Vikings who lived on the South Dorset Ridgeway. It was fascinating to read about all the items such as pots and jewellery that had been discovered over the years.

Our final stop was the craft area downstairs which had lots for Elliot to do. There was colouring, lego and special Dippy hats to make and decorate.

Elliot was also beside himself with excitement when he spotted a grandfather clock just like the one in Andy's Dinosaur Adventures!!

Finishing off with a visit to the brilliantly stocked little giftshop (and coming home with a £20 triceratops!) it was time for us to head home. We had an excellent morning at the museum and I'm really pleased we got to see Dippy while he is visiting Dorset.

For more information regarding tickets, head over to the Dorset County Museum website