Botany Bay is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 on the northern outskirts of Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

, and forms part of the London Borough of Enfield

London Borough of Enfield

The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...

. It has a population close to 200. The hamlet is located in the centre of Enfield Chase

Enfield Chase

Enfield Chase is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. It was once covered by woodland and used as a royal deer park. While it is no longer officially a 'place', the Church of England Parish of St Mary Magdalene, Enfield Chase, officially holds that title, which was effectively...

, on the Ridgeway not far from the M25 motorway

M25 motorway

The M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a orbital motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it ...

, and is about a mile from the railway station at Crews Hill

Crews Hill

Crews Hill is a village located in the northern outskirts of Greater London and 12 miles north of Charing Cross. It forms part of the London Borough of Enfield and is probably best known for its large number of garden centres and nursuries which, at summer weekends, give it almost a "resort"...

. It came into being when the Chase was enclosed in 1777 and was recorded as Botany Bay on C.G. Greenwood's map of 1819. Its remoteness from other settlements probably explains its name, as a facetious reference to Botany Bay

Botany Bay

Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...

 in Australia.

Amenities

The village has a public house, a farm with a well stocked shop and a cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

club which is housed in East Lodge Lane which shares its facilities with Latymer Old Boys FC.