ANNETTE Lee from Dorchester is hoping for a Red Leicester day when she enters the British Cheese Awards later this month.

The city-worker turned cheesemaker boasted a 15 per cent increase in business after scooping a top prize in the prestigious awards last year.

Now she is hoping her prize-winning goat's milk Woolsery Cheese will take top honours again in the competitive Cheese Lovers' Trophy, which is considered runner-up to the Supreme Champion Cheese at the awards.

Annette, 54, of The Old Dairy, Up Sydling, started working with goats after she was made redundant from her administrative job in London.

She had no experience of farming, but after discovering there was a shortage of goat's milk due to an increase in the number of people intolerant to cow's milk, she bought a herd of 50 animals.

She started by making just 20 cheeses per week herself, but now has three employees and 500 British Saanen goats and produces around 12 tonnes of cheese every year from a 2,000-acre site.

Six years ago she developed a recipe for a new cheese which she named Woolsery after the Devonshire village where she used to live.

The hard moist texture of the cheese, which boasts a nutty taste, took a year to develop.

Annette said: "It's been a fantastic year. It's kept us extremely busy and we are looking to double the size of our cheese-making vat.

"There are more goat's cheeses coming out. When I started out there weren't any hard goat's cheeses but hopefully I can maintain my niche.

"I think it's great that the Brits are trying something different from the usual Cheddar. Farmers are having to diversify and look for more things to do."

Woolsery is available in some supermarkets as well as local delicatessens and farmers' markets.

Annette said: "I don't think I can top the award last year but it would be nice to win something at the awards. My cheese tastes good because the goats lead as natural a life as possible which gives the milk a great flavour."

She is also entering her cow's milk semi-hard cheese with garlic or herbs and a conventional farmhouse Cheddar-type cheese.