Our nursery is on the losing side of the law

She made numerous objections to the planning of our private day nursery before it opened in 1997, even though the property had been in commercial use for many years. Planning permission was granted but she harassed us constantly. We made every effort to placate her, even restricting the times children played outside, but it was almost impossible to meet her demands.

The council were even called in by the neighbour to test noise levels. They found the children's noise to be inside EU guidelines on noise nuisance.

We have consistently good Ofsted reports and have a good reputation locally. There is a maximum of 15 children outside for 20 minutes, twice in the morning and twice in the after noon (two age groups) and there is no sound at our property after 6pm weekdays or at weekends.

Finally, the neighbour took out a court action in 2003 claiming noise nuisance and demanding compensation. At the three-day hearing we felt that the judge believed everything she said and nothing we said. We ended up paying the neighbour £7,500 damages, her tenant £500 damages, double-glazed her house and put up a 30m-long fence on top of the brick wall that divides 's. We also had to pay all the solicitor, barrister and court costs, currently £85,000 (the final costs are being worked out) and we were only covered up to £50,000.

The financial and emotional misery caused by this has only been alleviated by the kindness and support of friends, staff and parents. It is a salutary lesson to any nursery having problems with neighbours. The law was not on our side, yet we have done nothing wrong.

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