Eight locations chosen for Dippy the dinosaur's nationwide tour

Dippy the diplodocus has been dazzling visitors at the Natural History Museum for decades - and now, details of his tour across the UK have been announced.

It is going to take more than a year for conservators to prepare the reconstructed dinosaur for his journey to eight carefully selected venues nationwide.

The 70ft plaster-cast sauropod replica will first visit the Dorset County Museum - with its academics saying they are "excited" to welcome Dippy to the "birthplace of palaeontology" when he arrives in February 2018.

Birmingham Museum will be next to host the diplodocus, followed by Ulster Museum, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, the Great North Museum in Newcastle, the National Assembly of Wales, Number One Riverside in Rochdale and Norwich Cathedral.

Dippy is going to spend at least four to six months in each of the eight locations, and a team of experts will be tasked with disassembling and reconstructing him at every stop.

It's estimated that 1.5 million people will have seen Dippy by the time his tour ends in late 2020, and the Natural History Museum has confirmed that the exhibit will be free to view in all of the chosen venues.

Image Caption:Dippy is being replaced by a blue whale in Hintze hall next year

Museum director Sir Michael Dixon added: "We wanted Dippy to visit unusual locations so he can draw in people that may not traditionally visit a museum.

"Making iconic items accessible to as many people as possible is at the heart of what museums give to the nation."

Dippy was cast from original fossil bones discovered in the US in 1898, and arrived at London's Natural History Museum in 1905.

He was moved to the attraction's vast Hintze hall in 1979, but he is going to be retired and replaced with the real skeleton of a blue whale from January 2017.

The Garfield Weston Foundation is partially funding Dippy's travels.

Director Philippa Charles said: "Generations of children have been awestruck by Dippy's spectacular presence at the heart of the Natural History Museum and we hope he continues to inspire the nation to rediscover nature as he works his way around the UK."