Nursery recommendations - St Albans

[getawiggleon]

Apologies if this has been done a hundred times before! We are moving from London to St Albans next month and will be living at the north end of the conservation area. I'm looking for a nursery place for DD (2.8) to start next year. I was hoping to try and do a couple of tours of some of the nurseries but it's unlikely I'll get the chance to do so before the move now.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience of Wainscott House or Muriel Green? She was all set to start in a lovely Montessori here last October before we found out about the move and I looked at Albany Montessori (well, drove past in the car) but it just looked like a tiny hut in the middle of the park which was not really what I expected from their website.

Does anyone have any experience of any of the above (or any recommendations of any others in the area)?

Many thanks.

Is it daycare you're looking for? If so you could also look at Home From Home in Bernard St or TLC at the hospital (apologies if those are out of date, my oldest two are a bit older).

After I gave up work they went on to Mount Carmel on Sandpit Lane which is a kindergarten rather than a daycare-type nursery (takes children from the age of 3, but they can only do mornings OR afternoons depending on age) which I cannot praise highly enough. Brilliant preparation for school and a lovely friendly family atmosphere.

I have friends with children at both Wainscott House and the Albany Montessori, both are happy with their choices but if you need longer hours daycare than Wainscott would be the better choice I think. Toddlers In is also very popular.

My little boy (2.9) has been at Wainscot House for the last 18months and I really can't praise it highly enough. He's very happy there, the children are all treated as individuals and the staff are lovely.

Thank you all for posting . I really like the look of Mount Carmel and Wainscot House. DD is very shy and I think she's going to take a while to settle wherever she goes and both of these look to have a v warm, homely setting so I think I'll bite the bullet and register her. If it's anything like the nurseries around here there will probably be huge waiting lists anyway so that may play a part in where she ends up going in the end. Thanks again!