An artfully positioned plastic bowl saves Bert’s modesty.

Bert is many things – exuberant, showy, funny, caring, dramatic, brimming with relish, nerding out over the small details of functional vehicles, stubborn, determined, ridiculous, inhabiting a book so completely he has to act it out, a bizarre but brilliant dancer, all or nothing, the calm or the storm.

But one thing he is not is cool.

Feeds us for a couple of weeks 

2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

125ml maple syrup

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300g rolled oats

100g mixed seeds

75g sultanas

25g cranberries 

50g dedicated coconut

Heat the oven to gas mark 2 (150 degrees) and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. 

Mix the oil, syrup, honey, vanilla, oats and seeds together and spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes then add the coconut and dried fruit and bake for another 15. 

When it’s cool, tip it into an airtight container, breaking it up into small pieces as you go.