“My favourite food”, the gruffalo said, “You’ll taste good on a slice of bread.”

We may not all like mouse in our sandwiches but as summer (hopefully) starts we all want to get out and about with our little one and enjoy the great outdoors. In Cheshire we’re lucky enough to have Delamere Forest with all its lovely walks and activities. One special theme running through this summer is the Gruffalo’s 15th Birthday celebrations. The Forestry Commission have set up a Gruffalo trail in Delamere (there are others around the UK) which is perfect for young explorers to follow. It starts at the Linmere visitor centre takes about an hour and 20 minutes to walk round – I’ve done it twice now with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, and has signs and gruffalo themed plaques along the way for them to find. There are also some cut out characters from the book hiding in the trees for you to spot. You don’t need a map as the trail is well signposted, in fact if you take a packed lunch along you only need to pay for parking (£6.00 for the whole day).

Last Friday we were invited along to Delamere by Roberts’ Bakery who are encouraging families to get out and about with their 50 days of summer campaign. They want to help families pack their summer holidays full of fun and have come up with loads of ideas and inspiration for days out – including some in your back garden or front room. The #50Days guide will be available to download from the 20th of June 2014 here, or you can find ideas on their Facebook page.

The event we attended was a chance to try some of Roberts’ lovely products including a new range of sandwich rolls due to be on sale later this year and their delicious white and wholemeal bread, made with 50%white and 50% wholemeal flour for a lighter texture. Now I remember packed lunches as a child and they tended to be pretty basic, but with all the ideas around at present there’s nothing to stop us from making exciting and unusual snacks and sandwiches for our little ones to eat while still keeping the cost down.

Some of the Roberts’ Bakery ideas include Sausage Lettuce and Tomato buns, Traffic Light Sunshine Sandwiches, a sweeter treat of Strawberry Salad and Cream Cheese or Monkey s for your little little monkeys, here made with banana, raisins and sunflower seeds.

All these sandwiches are healthy options, the sausages are low fat, the Sunshine sandwich is filled with a cheese, carrot and raisin mix, the strawberry salad is full of vitamins and the monkeys are a fun way for the kids to be involved. top tip We found the best way to eat our monkeys was to roll them up into  sausage to stop the toppings falling off.

Other ideas for healthy picnic foods include Oaty Cookies, carrot and cucumber sticks, fruits, yoghurt and the classic but slightly naughty Chocolate Krispie Treats

A recipe for golden oaty cookies with dried fruits.

How to make easy peasy krispie cakes with a twist.

Whatever you decide to have for lunch why not get out and about this summer having fun with your kids and exploring new places? We visited Beeston Castle for the first time this weekend and my kids loved it, they were so excited to see a real castle and spent a lot of time exploring the ruins to figure out what each part might have been, or if it’s raining why not have a go at baking with them? Get some cookie cutters, be prepared for four to go everywhere and have fun letting them roll out the dough and stamp out the shapes. My Birthday cookie recipe is perfect for little one and can be decorated with water icing or fondant if you like.