Jim and Grace from Plot 22
Most allotments in Brighton and Hove are private little kingdoms. You wait three or four years on the council list, you finally get your patch, and then it’s just you and your runner beans. Allotment number 22 at the Weald site in Hove went the other way. In 2010 its tenant, Emma Leach, started inviting other people in to share it.
Sixteen years on, Plot 22 is a registered charity and a community garden where people grow, cook and eat together outdoors. It was The Argus’s Charity of the Year for 2023/24. There are roses by the way in, and a kettle that goes on the moment anyone arrives.
Jim Mayor has been CEO for the last couple of years. Grace Sankey is the Plot’s administrator, and the two of them split our questions down the middle. Jim took the history. Grace got the neighbourhood, because, as Jim put it, “Grace is very local to Plot 22, so a much better local guide.”
Find Plot 22: plot22.org | @plot22communitygarden on Instagram
Number 22
“Plot 22 started in 2010 when our founder Emma decided she’d like to invite other people to share the positive experience of being at what was then her personal allotment (number 22),” Jim says. “Since then we’ve grown organically – excuse the pun – and currently run around 300 events a year for almost 1,200 members.”
On the Plot’s own website, Emma says she set it up “as a therapeutic community project”. Jim wasn’t there for the early years, so when we asked what she’d make of it now, he answered on her behalf.
“I think she’d be most surprised by the number of people who have benefitted over the years from what started out as a few friends sharing a space, and how established Plot 22 has become as a community resource in our part of the city.”
Their part of the city is a quiet run of residential streets north of the railway line, a bit of Hove most visitors never see. Jim calls it central Hove. Grace, as you’ll find out, has her own views on whether any of it counts as Brighton.
No Such Thing as a Typical Week
“I’m not sure there’s a ‘typical’ week at the Plot!” says Grace. “Alongside our regular sessions like Tuesday Gardening, Thyme & Space, Garden Buddies and Growing Together, we also run seasonal family activities, partner sessions, workshops, and plenty more. We are keen for the space to be used and accessible to as many people as possible and are always looking for ways to engage with new groups and fill the Plot calendar!”
Each session has its own crowd. Garden Builders is a recent addition, for people who’d rather fix a fence than weed a bed. Meditation and Poetry go the other way.
“Sessions like Meditation and Poetry focus on the atmosphere of the Plot itself, offering a calm and reflective environment,” Grace says. “Growing Together is a dementia friendly session tailored towards people who prefer gentler activities, while Tuesday Gardening is ideal for anyone who simply wants to get involved in hands-on gardening alongside others. Our family sessions and Little Plotters attract a younger audience, and we often hear how calm, focused, and engaged children become when spending time in the space.”
Anyone who’s tried to keep a five-year-old still on a pebble beach will know that’s no small thing.
One thing before you set off with a trowel. You can’t just wander in. “Anyone can come along,” says Jim, “although you do need to register as a member first.” New members fill in a form on the website and start with an induction, which is a tour of the Plot and a steer towards the sessions that suit them. There’s no meat, fish or alcohol on site, so leave the bottle of wine at home.
Roses First, Then the Kettle
We asked Grace what the Plot smells like on a summer morning before anyone else gets there.
“We’re lucky to have beautiful roses growing in the front bed as you enter the Plot, you’ll often catch their scent on a summer morning as you arrive. The kettle goes on straight away! Creating a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere is really important to us, and offering a tea or coffee on arrival is a simple but meaningful way to help people feel at ease.”
We also asked for one moment that had stayed with her. She gave us something that happens over and over instead.
“Seeing people grow in confidence and begin to engage more with the space, and with each other, is always a joy. It’s quite common for participants to go on to become support volunteers, and from there, often session hosts. Watching that journey unfold and seeing people share their love of the Plot with others is always inspiring.”
Look at the team page on the Plot’s website and hosts outnumber everyone else on it.
Hove, Actually
“This part of Brighton (well, Hove actually!) is leafy and a little quieter,” says Grace. “Even on the hottest summer days, there’s plenty of space on the beach, and there’s a strong sense of community here.”
Anyone who’s lived here longer than a fortnight knows the joke. The beach bit is true as well. On the Saturdays when you can barely see the pebbles between the piers, Hove still has room for a towel.
Grace’s own day off starts with a coffee at 44 Poets on Rutland Road and goes downhill from there, in the good sense.
“One of my favourite things to do is grab a coffee from 44 Poets and take a leisurely stroll down to the beach. From there, you can walk all the way into central Brighton, perfect for a bit of people-watching and stopping off for refreshments at some great spots along the way, including Rockwater, Yellowave, and Babble.”
Plot 22 and Rockwater sit on almost exactly the same line of longitude, so that stroll drops you onto the prom more or less at its door. Head east and you’re into Hove Beach Park, opened in 2025, where Yellowave’s sand courts and Babble’s big terraces are the new arrivals. After that come the beach huts and Hove Lawns, and then the Peace Statue, where Hove stops and Brighton officially starts. It’s a fair old walk to the piers. Nobody’s making you do all of it.
“A detour along Kingsway for a visit to Cookbookbake, Sugardough, or Marrocco’s is also highly recommended!”
Cookbookbake is a specialist cookbook shop, right next door to Sugardough’s Hove bakery. Marrocco’s has been doing ice cream on the Hove seafront since 1969.
A Cinema You Can Walk To
We asked what the city is missing. Grace had an answer ready.
“Hove definitely needs a cinema, I love Duke of York’s and Dukes at Komedia but an easily walkable one would be great! I think a regular farmers/food market would also do really well here.”
Fair point. The Duke of York’s is up at Preston Circus and Dukes at Komedia is in North Laine, and both are a bus ride from Church Road. We’d queue for a Hove one.
Where Grace Goes
Most of Grace’s picks are within walking distance of each other, which in Hove is a compliment. Lunch is on Church Road, the drink is on Western Road, and both her squares open straight off Western Road.
Coffee
44 Poets for the coffee, which is where her walk to the sea starts too.
Stoneham Bakehouse for a cinnamon roll to go with it. It’s a couple of minutes away on Stoneham Road, and it’s a community interest company, so your cinnamon roll is doing a bit of good as well.
Lunch
Fourth and Church or Wild Flor, both on Church Road. “Always excellent,” says Grace. Both take their wine seriously. Fourth and Church doubles as a wine shop with a whole wall of sherry, and Wild Flor’s list goes deep into Burgundy.
A drink
The Well on Western Road. It’s the Hove branch of the natural wine bar and bottle shop whose original is on St George’s Road in Kemptown.
A walk
The seafront, obviously. But Grace also loves “a wander in Palmeira Square or Brunswick Square admiring the gorgeous Regency architecture.” Brunswick Square is the real Regency article, built in the 1820s. Palmeira Square went up in the 1850s and 60s, which strictly makes it Victorian. Nobody standing in either on a sunny evening has ever cared.
Wildcard
Beach Box Spa by the Banjo Groyne, or Yoyo Yard on Cheltenham Place in North Laine.
“A sauna and cold plunge is always top of my list, and there are so many great options to choose from now across Brighton and Hove.”
Beach Box does wood-fired saunas on the beach. Yoyo Yard has a Finnish sauna and a whisky-barrel cold plunge. Neither is in Hove, which tells you how much Grace likes a sauna.
Grace’s Brighton Tip
Her tip for a friend visiting for the weekend sends them underground, to the spa at Harbour Hotel on King’s Road.
“I’d take them to Harbour Hotel to their HarSPA, which is built directly into 18th-century smugglers’ tunnels.”
What’s Next
“We’ve been introducing a variety of workshops to complement our sessions,” says Jim, “and Grace has started taking our Little Plotters project into schools so children can benefit from Plot 22 related activities without physically needing to be in our space.”
Little Plotters is the Plot’s club for younger members, a year of activities built around the seasons. Taking it into classrooms means children get some of the Plot without a trip up to the Weald.
“If people are interested in coming along to a workshop or session, they can check out the diary at the ‘what’s on’ section of our website.”
