The Etches Collection Museum of Jurassic Marine Life

The Etches Collection is a modern museum in the village of Kimmeridge, on the World Heritage Jurassic Coast. Its fossils were nearly all found by one local collector in the nearby Kimmeridge Bay area, and they date from a shallow tropical sea of the Late Jurassic period. The main gallery pairs the specimens with computer-generated images of marine reptiles swimming above the displays, which helps younger visitors follow the story. The best-known exhibit is a large pliosaur skull featured in a BBC documentary. A lab and workshop area lets visitors watch fossils being cleaned and conserved, and a discovery room offers interactive geology displays, a microscope and fossil handling activities. The museum also has a shop selling fossil-themed gifts and rare fossils, and it runs school visits and events.