Inhabitants felt a sense of freedom in living off what they needed and enjoying a simpler life away from the busy, polluted city. The plotlands provided the working class an opportunity that might not have been available otherwise.

By 1924, there were 3,000 people living in Peacehaven. Original houses were often very temporary affairs (some were old railway carriages). Others were constructed from former army huts, brought from North Camp near Seaford,