MRS Gladys McDonald will miss three things in her well earned retirement - her supply of spring water, the view from her front room and her wood-burning stove.

The water and the spectacular view for 50 miles to Wensleydale and beyond have been two of the benefits of living on the edge of the North York moors high above Osmotherley, while the stove has enabled Mrs McDonald to bake her famously mouth-watering scones eagerly devoured by hungry walkers.

Not that many scones have been eaten this year, for as Mrs McDonald retires from the Chequers tea room on the road to Snilesworth she looks back on the most depressing period for trade since she started serving refreshments to passers-by 42 years ago.

The foot-and-mouth crisis has put the boot in, closing the moors and footpaths and dramatically reducing the number of walkers who in any ordinary year would be packed into the little tea room overlooking that enviable view.

Mrs McDonald, who had to lay off up to four tea room staff because business was so slack, said: ''I have done less than a third of the business I would do in a normal year. At the start of the foot-and-mouth crisis there was nothing at all.

''Since the school holidays began there has been a bit more trade, but nowhere near normal. This year I have felt as if I have been retired. It has been a doddle. It has been totally depressing. I would rather this year had not started.''

The tea room, once voted the most interesting on the North York moors by the outdoor writer Mr Mark Reid, will not disappear after Mrs McDonald's retirement.

The business is being taken over this weekend by her son, Andrew, who runs Chequers Farm behind the former drovers' inn, and his wife, Emma. Mrs McDonald is moving to a grade 2 listed house in Osmotherley.

Mr McDonald, who sees walkers returning once the foot-and-mouth scourge is eradicated, is treating the tea room and its adjoining holiday cottages as a long-term investment and an opportunity to diversify out of farming. Agriculture will become a secondary occupation for the couple, who have plans to expand the business.

The tea room and holiday cottages were developed at what was the famous Chequers inn, a 17th century building standing on an ancient drovers' road across the moors. The last pint of beer was pulled in 1945 but legend has it that a peat fire burned continuously in the old inn until the 1960s.

Mrs McDonald's husband, John, who died four years ago, was in the insurance business when he and his wife saw from their home at Knayton that the former inn and the working farm behind it were to let in 1959. Mr McDonald and his wife steadily built up the farm together until he finally gave up insurance.

Mrs McDonald, who can remember baking in the oven of the peat fire, began serving coffee, tea and scones from her own kitchen to walkers until she and her husband bought the farm from the estate of Sir Richard Barwick in 1984.

The tea room was then built, using stone from her grandfather's old house outside Osmotherley, and it became busier as the range of food was extended to include soup and sandwiches. The successful holiday cottages were another example of farm diversification.

Mrs McDonald's busiest periods have been at the height of the summer season but she has kept the tea room open for walkers and other customers even on winter weekends when snow has carpeted the moors.

She said: ''With a day lasting from six in the morning to ten at night you don't sit down much, but when you enjoy something it doesn't seem like work. I have always enjoyed cooking and have enjoyed meeting a lot of nice people.

''Walkers have brought a lot of the custom, but people who have travelled from Teesside to Northallerton to shop have also looked in on the way back.

''You have got to make the best of what you have around you. We have a lovely location here and people just love to sit outside. I will miss all that, but you cannot buy time and I want to do other things before it's too late.''

Mrs McDonald wants to spend more time with her family, which includes the 11 grandchildren among her son and her two daughters. Kay lives with her family in Surrey and Anne, a careers officer, lives nearer home at Kirby Sigston.