VISITORS were transported back to the Jurassic era at the biggest fossil festival Lyme Regis has seen.

This year’s event brought together top palaeontologists and earth scientists from around the world.

Visitors took a walk inside Horace – a 35ft-long puppet pliosaur – to watch an eight-minute film about the dinosaur’s life under the seas.

The annual festival tied in with the Jurassic Coast Earth Festival – part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Sir Ghillean Prance, Earth Festival patron, said: “So much of the history of biology is hidden in the deposits along the coast and the festival helped to educate many people and show the importance of our coast.”

Marine Parade in Lyme has been transformed temporarily into Lyme Regis International Airport for the bank holiday weekend.

A departure lounge has been erected for Jurassic Airlines, an authentic Boeing 737 cabin which gives passengers a 12-minute virtual flight along the Jurassic coastline 185 million years ago.