I visited Asquith, Busy Bees, Shapes and Kids Unlimited. I'd rank them as follows (based on putting my baby in at 7 months - he is now 20 months):
1: Kids Unlimited. I choose to put mine in this one because: It's a bright and airy purpose built building with lots of rooms that are desined with each age group in mind. All of the ground floor rooms lead into their own little outdoor spaces (there are 3 outdoor spaces - 1 large sandbox which my little one plays in all day long if hes allowed, one padded area with a canopy & toys for babies, and a large grassy area with toys, a garden and wendy house for the slightly older ones. Babies & toddlers are on the ground floor, and there are 4 rooms but ajoin through a little gate into 2 during specific times of the day, allowing all the toddler in one and all the babies in the other - usually at the end of the day. All of the toys were new and there are lots of them, the equipment in each of the rooms was great and had a lot of variety. The staff are very friendly, and my child generally loves it there. He runs to greet he key worker and asks to be carried around. All the girls in my NCT group put their babies into KU around the same time & I also know about 6 others from the area who go there as well. KU is on a quiet side street off of a main road that can get quite busy during peak times. Also the car park is quite small, but those are really my only complaints. 2012 Ofstead rating is Outstanding. Dont know the Ofstead rating for the others I'm afraid.
2: Shapes. I liked the baby area of this one because it was quiet and there was a seperate area just for sleeping. The staff were all lovely, and they had a nice garden, although not many outdoor toys that I could see. The toddler area was a nice wide open space and again, all of the kids looked very happy and the staff were very attentive. Shapes is on a quiet side street.
3: Asquith. It's very near to the train station and the only nursery north of the high street. It's got a very small driveway to the back of the building with a tiny car park, which the outdoor space backs on to. I had high hopes for Asquith, but was left very disappointed with the baby room. There was very little colour in the rooms - lots of plain unpainted wooden toys and no artwork or colour on the walls. Just generally uninspiring. Young babies who cannot play much yet need visual stimulation. Again, I didn't notice much natural light, but perhaps it was just because the rooms were so bland. The baby rooms are also on the second floor, which I didn't like because of safety issues j case there was a fire, it would be hard to get a bunch of non walking babies out safely. I don't remember much about the toddler room. The preschool downstairs looked very nice, and the kids playing in the outdoor area looked like they were havin a lot of fun playing and running around with torches outside as it was already dark out. I can't remember if the outdoor area was grassed or not. One thing that really irritated me about Asquith is that we were bombarded with sales calls for months after asking if we would like to out our child there, even after we told them no. I've never had that from any of the others.
4: Busy Bees. It has its positives and negatives. It's a big facility that's a bit of a maze. When I went they had some temporary staff and were looking for a new manager. I found the baby rooms lacked natural light and the careers didn't really seem that attentive to the children. There was one baby just crying for his mummy during nap time which is heart breaking as a new mum looking to put her first child into nursery. They did have a neat little sensory room though. I was more impressed with the preschool area for the kids who are a bit older. They were all singing songs and looked like they were having fun. The staff seemed a bit more enthused in this room. The lack of outdoor space is a major downside for Busy Bees. The only outdoor space they have is a tiny triangle of pavement for the entire nursery to play in, so that means either all the kids of all ages outside in one space at the same time, or only one group at a time. The outdoor space doesn't have any grass (at least when I was there) and it is bordered by 2 car parks. Busy Bees is on a main road, but had its own car park that is quite large.
Hope that info helps!!!