Generations of three, four and five-year-olds have had fun learning and getting along with other youngsters at Richmond House in Main Street.

But on Tuesday the dozen who finished summer term signalled the end of an era as Mrs Lustig has decided to close the nursery.

She says it became increasingly hard to keep the school going because of the level of funding for each child aged three and over and that the premises is now business-rated.

Mrs Lustig prided herself on using the best materials, like cartridge paper, and with two-year-olds now being taken on, extra staff are needed to meet the teacher-pupil ratios.

She will clearly be missed in the village. "It was like a florist here at the weekend when parents and staff brought me flowers at our sports day," said Mrs Lustig. "I will miss it a lot but I plan to go back to teaching reception age children after taking a year out."

As we chatted on Monday morning, the gentle strains of Mozart wafted around the nursery classroom. It clearly had a calming effect on the youngsters. "I like to play classical music like this because it affects the brain. It changes the tempo and makes the children concentrate. They all know that Mozart was composing music as a little boy of four."

The walls are bedecked with paintings from their sports day and there was a display of photographs charting the history of Richmond House through the decades.

It was clearly a heart-wrenching decision for Mrs Lustig to close the nursery school where she has enjoyed teaching the children so much.

"I didn't want to close down but you can't keep a business going when it's not financially viable," she said.

The nursery is run from a building next to Mrs Lustig's house. The children love going into the garden, which houses a variety of different play areas called by mystical names such as The Secret Garden and The Fairy Path.

"We go out there whatever the weather," said Mrs Lustig. "In the rain, the snow and the wind with wellies and small safe umbrellas if necessary."

"Indoors we give them lots of interesting things where they have to use their hands and their eyes so it improves their fine motor skills and co-ordination."

The idea for the nursery came about because there were no learning facilities for very young children in the Rutland and Melton Mowbray area at the time.

The first intake came in shortly after Bobby Moore had lifted the World Cup for England at Wembley. The sixties and the decade that followed were a much more innocent time for pre-school age youngsters in terms of what was available for children to watch on television.

She said: "One of the biggest changes is the type of things and the amount that TV companies make available and which parents let their children watch. Some of them can come in really hyper because of something they have seen. I do believe parents should take great care in what they let their children see."

However, some things have improved and nowadays there are stringent child protection policies in place and everyone working with children is security checked.

Some nurseries take children younger than Richmond House but Mrs Lustig has always thought three to five was the right age group to concentrate on, although over the last few years they have had to take them from two-years-old.

"Ideally, before the age of three children should go with their carer to toddler groups," she said.

One memorable occasion at the nursery was the day two lion cubs came to visit. The father of one of the children was a lion keeper at Stapleford Park and he brought two of the offspring along one morning.

"These two little cubs were like puppies and the children loved them," recalled Mrs Lustig. "We probably wouldn't be able to do it these days because of increased awareness of health and safety."

Mrs Lustig had two children with late husband Richard, who helped on the administration side at the nursery.

She plans to let her two grandchildren and extended family have the run of her garden from now on.

The nursery is now closed but the memories from the last 42 years still burn brightly for Mrs Lustig.

"I love to look back at the old photos of children some of whom are now grown up," she added. "We have also had many parents who came here as children, who later brought their children. It is fantastic to see young children develop and I will miss them."