A MASSIVE life-sized dinosaur, ridden by a naked top-hatted fat lady, is about to take to the streets of Bucks - on its way to the Chelsea Flower Show.

The creature, a 9ft tall Struthiomimus, will be lifted onto a truck later this month and driven through the county to the show in London where it will be exhibited and placed on sale for more than £50,000.

Both the dinosaur and its top-hatted rider are the work of award-winning sculptor Andrew Sinclair ARBS, who runs his studio in a farm barn in Rocky Lane, Wendover.

Andrew, 52, a member of the South Bucks Business Club, is taking six weeks to produce the prehistoric beast and its female friend.

The first 550 kilos of the dinosaur was sculpted in clay and it is currently being cast in bronze resin.

"I’ve been passionate about dinosaurs since I was a kid," he explained. "Most children then grow out of this passion - but I never did, and I have always wanted to bring such a fantastic creature back to life."

He decided to create a female rider for the Struthiomimus to give it a more fun look, and he asked his partner Diane Coates, 56, to pose for this.

"I agreed to do this, but he didn’t tell me the end product was going to look so different," laughed Diane, who jointly runs the Sculpture School at the barn with Andrew.

The dinosaur, based on Andrew’s original ‘Pre-hysteric’ sculpture, will be exhibited at Chelsea from May 21 in a joint project with Eddie Powell from The Surrey Sculpture Park.

Andrew said: "I like the idea of a sculpture being beautifully done but having a bit of a story with it. Hopefully, the work should stand out at Chelsea because the dinosaur will be 19ft tall once it is mounted on its stand."

Sadly, Andrew’s studio may soon have to relocate because of HS2 which is due to run 25ft from his barn door.

Andrew said: "Perhaps we can scare HS2 away with this wonderful beast! It would be nice to think that my giant dinosaur could kill off their white elephant!"

Members of the public are welcome to visit the studio by appointment on 01296 620099 or by email at: andy@andrew-sinclair.com.

 www.andrew-sinclair.com or www.thesculptureschool.co.uk

For more leisure stories including food reviews, gigs and what's on go to www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/leisure