WHAT better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than in the company of a mouse, a wheeler-dealer fox, an eccentric owl, a maraca-shaking snake and, of course, a Gruffalo.

Voted the nation's number one bedtime story by BBC Radio 2 listeners, The Gruffalo has been performed to well over a million people throughout the world and, when we heard it was coming to the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, my wife and I simply had to take our three-and-a-half-year-old daughter along.

Sophie (daughter, not wife!) loves the Gruffalo and this journey into the famous Deep, Dark Wood was packed with songs, laughs and scary fun that kept her thoroughly entertained throughout.

The three-strong cast in the Tall Stories Theatre Company's adaptation combine excellently to portray the various characters from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s award-winning book.

The story centres around Mouse, who ventures into the Deep, Dark Wood in search of nuts, but has to conjure the terrifying Gruffalo character to ward off various predators she meets along the way. However, she has to think on her feet when she actually encounters a Gruffalo to make sure she doesn’t end up as his lunch.

The 53-minute performance, which is aimed at children aged three and above, is an ideal length to keep them entertained, while also providing a great afternoon out for all the family.

And I challenge anyone who goes to see the production to try and leave the theatre at the end without singing the catchy G-G-G-Gruffalo song on the way out.