WORLD leaders tucked into a locally-produced goat s cheese at the glamorous G20 Summit dinner which was prepared by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. Elizabeth Harris had no idea that her special Childwickbury Goat s Cheese was going to be served at Number 10

WORLD leaders tucked into a locally-produced goat's cheese at the glamorous G20 Summit dinner which was prepared by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Elizabeth Harris had no idea that her special Childwickbury Goat's Cheese was going to be served at Number 10 Downing Street last Wednesday night until one of her friends saw a copy of the menu in a London evening newspaper.

The banquet was attended by Barack and Michelle Obama along with the other most powerful leaders in the world who gathered in London last week to discuss the global financial crisis.

The soft cheese, which Elizabeth Harris has been making at her goats' farm in Childwickbury for the past 15 years, was used in the vegetarian starter option at the banquet and it was accompanied by roast shallots, seashore vegetables, herb green salad and wild garlic-scented Irish soda bread.

Although Elizabeth was ecstatic at the news, she was not too surprised that her acclaimed cheese was used on the menu as it is often selected by top restaurants.

Speaking last Thursday, she said: "I had no idea until yesterday when the menu was printed in one of the free London papers. It was really exciting."

The mother-of-two sells her cheeses through retailer Neal's Yard Dairy which supplied it to Jamie Oliver for the banquet.

A former research scientist, she turned to cheese-making as she was attracted by the lifestyle and it soon became a full-time career for her.

She said: "Cheese making was originally a 'good-life' type of thing for me. But I made the first goat's cheese over 15 years ago and it has just been something that has grown."

Elizabeth has around 50 goats at her farm and produces between 200 and 250 cheeses a week by hand, and the finished product fetches between �4.50 and �8 each.

Her Childwickbury Cheese only takes around two days to prepare as it is served fresh, but her other speciality, a mature cheese called Verulamium, takes longer.

Elizabeth's cheeses are on sale at St Albans Market on a Saturday and can also be bought from the Buongiorno Italia delicatessen in Lattimore Road.