It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. And there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as heading down the the North Wall this Christmas and seeing Creation's latest production of the Wind in the Willows.

I am always pleased and delighted by Creation's work, and this is no exception. Take what you expect from a Wind in the Willows performance, set it aside, and see how much of your experience and memory of the book resonates with what you see on stage. I found a lot did, and my response to the adaptation was warm and homely. It felt like I was experiencing someone else's vision of the River, the Burrows and the great Hall as they were reading it. Never have I seen an adaptation of a book so true to the feeling of the words. It is as though Creation have somehow got into the bones of the story, and persuaded it to do a marvellous turn on the stage.

The stage has rotated and is now on the right-hand-side of the auditorium. I had no idea the North Wall could do this! It's a good set-up and allows a 'thrust stage' layout with entrances through both sides of the stalls. If anything, it makes this already intimate venue feel more so, yet also more inclusive with the action taking, quite literally, centre stage.

Whenever a company takes something I love (like the book of the Wind in the Willows) I am fully prepared for something horrible, a travesty, a twisted distortion of the work I know. But that didn't happen.

I am in love with the costumes. The initial conceit of a 'play within a book within a play' works well, and the transition from 'wanderers' of the human kind to the animal characters of the book is very fluid. And I feel a more effective representation of the animal personalities was achieved by the 'hinting' within the Creation costumes than would have come from a full rat/mole/rabbit suit. It very much is not a stage of adults dressed in animal onesies. This is a Good Thing. I am in awe of Ratty and Mole's trousers - I want a pair of each!

The acting is great and the characterisations very believable. Bar the weasel-queen who I found rather annoying (perhaps that's the point), but there must be coal in every jewel-box or you don't believe the rest is real, so I can forgive that. Ratty is a delightful 1930s OCD jolly-hockysticks meets travelling artist and Mole an endearingly determined, though un-worldly, friend in all weathers. Mr Toad is eponymously marvellous, and his unexpected sidekick the Newt is great. And just when you think all genuses have been represented (brushes on the head for hedgehogs!) a pair of wrens appear! You'll know them when you see them - bone-crunchingly hillarious. Badger, ah Badger. I like how he was done, your mileage may vary.

Good choreography too, and the lighting design works with the performance all the way. Best fight scene I've seen in a long while. The Theatre is also graced this year with a warm mulled wine, mince pie and crepe-serving marquee in which is a very well-considered upgrade.

Whenever a company takes something I love (like the book of the Wind in the Willows) I am fully prepared for something horrible, a travesty, a twisted distortion of the work I know. But that didn't happen. I couldn't find a single part of the production I didn't like (apart from the 'street' Weasel - but as mentioned, I can forgive that), and went away feeling fondly reminded of the book that I love, and wanting to revisit it. That, in my book, is the true test of an adaptation.

I never knew that Kenneth Grahame was buried in Oxford until I chanced upon his tombstone in Holywell cemetery a few weeks ago. I also never knew he went to St Edward’s school. How fitting, then, that his best creation, The Wind in the Willows, should return to St Edward’s best creation, the North Wall Arts Centre, as a stage performance.

“Warm your feet by the fire, toast yourself a crumpet and let us thrill you with the daring adventures of Mr Toad, as his friends try to put him off his latest scheme while the seasons turn on the riverbank.”

That’s what the Creation Theatre Company, who produced and performed tonight’s show, invites us to do. (There are no real crumpets, but if you go between 11th December and 3rd January, there will be crepes for sale.)

For the uninitiated, The Wind in the Willows is a quintessentially English story about the adventures of four friends - Ratty, Mole, Badger and Mr Toad - living on a riverbank. It has been told and re-told to generations and has also been adapted for film, television and stage.

If, like me, you loved the gentle 1980s TV series (remember the theme tune? And David Jason as Toad?), then be warned: this production is nothing like it. Tonight, the Riverbank went urban; imagine (if you can) Shoreditch hipster meets Tooting massive. There were selfies, hashtags, camp French newts, trippy birds, and – shock horror – Ratty and Mole were girls!

All of which is interesting because the introduction in my cherished Oxford World’s Classics version of the storybook claims that, in fact, The Wind in the Willows is “neither an animal story, nor for children”. Like the best stories, it has several layers of interpretation, appealing to adults and children alike. Tonight’s contemporary adaptation could be said to be a reflection of this, rather than a heinous deviation from an innocent tale about four animal-friends. The only thing I would have scrapped was a weird out-of-character pause when they talked about fire alarms, and a strange gypsy horse interlude.

Some of the best things about the show were its quirkily creative use of ordinary materials as props, its attention to detail, and a beautiful, evocative set. I won’t describe it all, but I will say, please look. Look around you, everywhere, when you go. Look up and behind you, look at what’s hanging around the characters’ necks, on their ears, and off their skirts. Look at Toad’s car, and Ratty’s hat, and do look at the hedgehog actually knitting.

The actors, uniformly good, demonstrated awe-inspiring versatility when acting through complex scene, character and costume changes. The performances of Georgina Strawson and Will Norris were particularly arresting, with their brilliant depictions of Ratty and Toad, respectively. Rhys King played his four characters so well I didn’t realise they were the same actor. The mice, sourced from Creation’s Drama Club for young people, were charming. But what did the kids think? There were several in the audience and, by the looks on their faces, all seemed impressed, which is probably the best test of all.

The Wind in the Willows is an excellent alternative to pre-Christmas panto. It offers Goodies and Baddies, song and dance, a Widow Twanky-esque washerwoman, and a happy ending to boot. It also dishes out a few moral lessons, including timeless, heartwarming ones about friendship and caring for the environment, and more contemporary concerns like police brutality. It ends with a parting message that sums up the value that theatre and the Arts bring to society: “Keep telling stories so that the stories of now become the stories of the past”. Couldn’t agree more.