Childminder or nursery?

This might not be the answer you're looking for as it's my first baby, but I can tell you why I've gone for a childminder. Cooked food is provided and I only need to being nappies, just an FYI. It's quite a large setting for a childminder so 4 staff members but in a private home. I've viewed a few nurseries and I just can't see my baby in the baby rooms. They can hardly play with each other as they're still small so they seem like they're almost stuck to an adult all day or on the floor. Outdoor time doesn't seem prioritised for babies and they're in small closed off areas outsides which broke my heart (I know everyone has different priorities so this may work well for some and the kids seemed happy and I can only go by what I've seen). At the childminder ages are mixed and there seems to be less obsession with getting them ready for school and more focus on the present. This place also has a huge garden with most time spent outdoors so it just covers off more of what I want it to look like x

My first is in a nursery and October baby will start in September. We only actually looked at one because we loved it. They really vary from what I hear, but ours they make all the food on site, eat at little tables together mixed ages. It's quite small so like 40 children overall in one big room but part is sectioned off for the under 2s. I felt more comfortable with a nursery because there are multiple adults around and I didn't want to deal with childminder's holidays. It's just open all year except Christmas week and bank holidays. They also have a garden and spend a lot of time playing outside, babies as well again in a sectioned off area.

We have an amazing childminder and will also send our October baby to her. We chose a childminder because we both have flexible working in terms of hours so didn’t need 7am-6pm days like a nursery offers and we have grandparents doing one day a week childcare so for us a childminder is way cheaper (you only pay for the hours you want, not a full day like at nursery). Positives: there are only 3 children so they form close bonds with each other, they get out and about for days out most days, they meet up with other childminders so still get to socialise, because our son was with two older girls to start with he picked up lots of language from them, we have also managed to avoid some (not all) of the many illnesses that have gone round local nurseries. Negatives: we have to supply food and nappies (only a negative as you have to think about a packed lunch each day), childminder takes holidays so you will need cover for those days.