A GARDEN centre and farm shop in Oxfordshire has been chosen to host this year's Great British Cheese Festival.

Millets Farm Centre at Frilford, will be the location for the event on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 and 30.

The organisers said that after scouring the country they discovered Millets Farm Centre, an impressive farm shop and garden centre complex in rural Oxfordshire with orchards, landscaped gardens, fishing lake, farm animals and a maize maze.

Millets is also one of the biggest tourist attractions in Oxfordshire with more than 1.2 million visitors each year.

The focal point of the festival will be Britain's biggest cheese market with more than 100 cheesemakers exhibiting.

There will be 450 different British and Irish cheeses that will be included in the cheese "bible" the Carrs Cheese Guide.

There will be a Food from Britain market supported by 50 producers of fine foods and drink, including Colchester Oysters, three counties cider and Perry and a special area for local producers including quince cheese and Cotswold pudding and pies.

In addition, there will be cheese making demonstrations, a chance to taste some of the 100 medal winners' cheese from the 2007 British Cheese Awards and the opportunity to talk with winners in the Hall of Champions.

There will be a book shop with rare books, the Oxford Arms "pub" offering a large selection of beers, ciders, Perrys and English wines, live music, cheese-tossing and a romp on a rodeo bull.

The British Cheese Awards will be held on Friday, July 20, at the Mill House Hotel, at Kingham, where 850 cheeses from 170 cheesemakers will be tasted by judges from around the world. The winners will be announced at the Cheese Festival at Millets Farm in September.