Almost 80 years ago at unique social experiment was set up in a rural area of Sussex.

In 1922 Vera Pragnell bought 50 acres of land at Heath Common, near the village of Washington, north of Worthing.

Her aim was to establish a commune where people of all classes could thrive as a community and settlers arrived from all over England.

Initially some lived in caravans or tents, but Vera, the 25-year-old daughter of a textile magnate, gave them plots of land on which to build wooden shacks, grow vegetables and tend livestock.

Water was drawn from a well or rainwater-collection tanks and there was no electricity. Conditions were spartan but people gelled, holding community events such as concerts and dancing.

But there were salacious reports in the Press at the time about "free love" and settlers frolicking naked.

Now Joy Gunton and Ivy Vickery are the only survivors of The Sanctuary.

Joy, now 72, was aged one when her parents came to The Sanctuary in 1929. Today she lives in one of the last original two-room houses.

Joy has heard the rumours of free love and doesn't rule out a possibility it took place.

She said: "It was a lovely place for children to grow up in. We used to call it paradise, running around barefoot and free.

"My parents grew a lot of vegetables and we had oil lamps for lighting. We didn't get electricity or running water until 1968."

Ivy, 86, was introduced to The Sanctuary in 1925 by her sister, Rose, and brother Fred. They were originally from the East End of London, notorious for its slums and high infant mortality rate, so living in the Sussex countryside was a major change.

Ivy, who now lives in Storrington, about five minutes' drive from Washington, said: "I loved it here. We used to walk over the Downs to Worthing, it was wonderful."

But soon the cracks began to show. People became possessive about their plots and started putting up fences.

As the original settlers died, their relatives started selling off the real estate to outsiders. Some of the original settlers became disillusioned and moved away.

Historian Chris Hare, whose book The Washington Story devotes a chapter to rise and fall of The Sanctuary, said Vera bought the original 50 acres for just £850.

Today, the land is occupied by some of the finest houses in Sussex. Some of the homes, off roads bearing names such as Vera's Walk and Sanctuary Lane, are worth up to £500,000.

Visitors to the area, now known as Sleepy Hollow, can still see a wooden shelter.

But Chris lamented: "The simple life has gone, corrupted by the influence of money."