On the beach there was a cast of a ______ . [br] The area is one of the best in

Presenter: Good morning, everyone. I’m very happy to be here to give you a brief introduction to some of the places you can visit in the locality of your university. I hope that you can take some time out from your studies to pay a visit to at least a few of them. First, I’d like to tell you about Dinosaur Isle and Fossil Walk. It’s one of my favourite days out.
    I remember my first visit there. We were walking along a beautiful sandy beach when our palaeontologist guide stops suddenly and points at a rock perhaps sixty centimetres across. "That," he says, "is the cast of a dinosaur’s footprint." At first I thought he was joking, but he goes on to point out the three vast toes and to explain that this stone was moulded in the footprint of an Iguanodon some 125 million years ago. From the size of the "foot", he adds, this particular herbivorous biped would have been about eight metres long and perhaps 2.5 metres tall to the hip. This area is one of the most prolific and accessible sites in Europe for dinosaur fossils. Bits of bone are regularly found on the beaches and the Dinosaur Isle Museum has a collection of international importance--and is thoroughly family-friendly to boot.
    At the museum, you can walk back in time, via the last Ice Age and the Eocene to the late cretaceous to the heyday of the dinosaurs, to which the main hall is dedicated. The information is accessibly presented and there is enough to satisfy even the most ardent "dinophile" of any age. The collection sensibly majors on the dinosaurs that once roamed this area, with full-size reconstructions as well as fossils ranging from huge vertebrae to toothed jaws and long leg bones. Many of the specimens were found by amateur fossil hunters, including two families on holiday here in the 1970s who found some bones on a beach in the southwest of the island; they turned out to belong to an iguanodon and another completely new dinosaur, subsequently called Neovenator, meaning "new hunter".
    On my first Fossil Walk a piece of dinosaur rib bone was found, and the day before, four dinosaur bones were discovered as well as a large prehistoric crocodile tooth. Even if you are not lucky enough to find bits of dinosaur, there are 110 million-year-old shells and fossilised wood to be collected. Our guide was not only extremely knowledgeable but also endlessly patient as he identified a steady stream of sandstone and flint with a few fossils thrown in.
    Back at the museum there is stacks for kids to do: three different activity sheets and lots of interactive exhibits. The touchy-feely game was a big hit. It revealed a sauropod claw, fossilised dinosaur poo. It’s great fun for the kids to make their parents feel this! And then there is the cast of a Tyrannosaurus’ brain, which is remarkable for its smallness. Smells from the dinosaurs’ world were much enjoyed too--rotting corpse, pine forest, swamp and carnivore breath. The last was particularly yucky in my opinion.
    An interactive map shows where the locality’s five main dinosaurs were found, along with a second map indicating their global spread. Upstairs, there is a reconstruction of the Sandown pterosaur, which was unearthed close to the museum and its fossils, along with information about the area’s own tyrannosaurus, discovered in 1995--about half the size of T Rex and called Eotyrannus Lengi--as well as loads of dino-related art activities.
    Unfortunately, there are currently no refreshments available on site, but there is a mini-golf course next to the museum which has a cafe. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible. Let me just give you the admission details. Dinosaur Isle and Fossil Walk are both open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., April to October, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., November--March. Adult tickets are￡4.75, children under 15 pay ￡2.75. There’s also a family ticket available for two adults and two children, which costs ￡13. Students and retirees pay ￡3.75. The two-hour guided dinosaur walk is included in the ticket price.
    Finally, I’ll let you know how to get there. Despite the name, Dinosaur Isle isn’t actually an island. From the university, take bus number 30, which I believe stops right outside the main gate. Is that right? Yes? Thank you. The bus stops almost directly in front of the museum, and you can’t miss that be, cause it has a big plastic T Rex outside! If you’re going as a group of more than eight, please telephone in advance. A group discount is available if you do, but not if you arrive unannounced. The phone number is 019 40434, and there’s a website too--www.sandowndinosaur.com.