Visitors can grab a rare chance to visit one of the most important fossil sites in Britain - right here in west Dorset.

The Horn Park Quarry site, on the B3163 between Beaminster and Broadwindsor, will be open for visitors on Sunday, May 26 between 10am and 4pm.

The quarry is home to fossils of international interest dating back 170 million years.

Horn Park Quarry is the country’s smallest nature reserve and contains what geologists describe as the most significant examples of ammonites in Britain. It is rarely open to the public.

The site is of international importance for the abundance of fossil ammonites found there, which represent an almost complete record of part of the Jurassic period.

It is used to correlate rocks of the same age throughout the world.

They date from around 170 million years ago when what is now Dorset was situated near the equator and was part of a tropical sea.

The Horn Park Quarry open day is a rare opportunity for all ages to explore the site, speak to experts and get stuck into all sorts of fun, fossil-related activities.

Tickets are free but must be pre-booked on a two-hour timeslot basis to help manage numbers throughout the day.

Visit shop.jurassiccoast.org to book a timed slot.