Crews Hill is a small settlement to the north-west of Enfield, close to the M25 London orbital motorway and the boundary of Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as a village, mainly due to its population of around 500, but little else qualifies it as such. There is a small residential area, composed of Rosewood Drive, Ash Ride, Golf Ride, Beech Avenue, Cypress Avenue and Wroxham Gardens. Many of the properties on these streets are bungalows. However, Crews Hill is best known for the large number of garden centres, mostly on Cattlegate Road and Theobold's Park Road. There are a handful of shops, including a small grocery store. The number of people working in these businesses almost exceeds the entire population.

The village is surrounded by fields and woodland, with Crews Hill gold club immediately to the west. Despite having just 230 households, Crews Hill has a railway station, with the Great Northern service running every half hour and taking 40 minutes to get to the London terminus at Moorgate. Junctions 24 and 25 of the M25 are less that three miles away, whilst Chase Farm Hospital is also nearby.

With no church, no supermarket and just one pub, Crews Hill might be regarded as little more than a dormitory for nearby Enfield. There are a handful of shops, including a convenience store and bistro, but the town is dominated by nurseries and garden centres, along with a few equestrian and aquatic businesses.

The residential part of town is made up of just six streets, accessed via the junction of Rosewood Drive and Theobalds Park Road. Around 150 homes are sited along these short streets.

Crews Hill railway station was opened in 1910 and is on the Hertford Loop between Bowes Park and Stevenage. Services are currently operated by Govia Thameslink with two trains per hour calling at the station. The average journey time between Crews Hill and Moorgate is 41 minutes. It is one of the least used stations in London - not surprising given the small population. The village owes is existence to the railway having evolved after the station opened.

Crews Hill is named after one William Crew, a former under-keeper of Enfield Chase. In 1729 he shot a particularly vicious member of a gang of deer stealers, following which he used the reward money to build a house and barn on the south side of Cattlegate Road. Crew died in 1785 at the age of 104.

More from Martin Payne's book A History of Enfield Chase »

In terms of land use, Crews Hill is dominated by horticultural businesses - a mecca of garden centres and plant nurseries, along with a sprinkling of equestrian, avian and aquatic outlets.

It started a large area of glasshouses, used to provide the nearby London market with cut flowers, pot plants and vegetables. As this became less profitable, business turned to garden centres and nurseries, creating horticulture's golden mile.