A family say they have been left with a "bad taste in their mouth" after staying at a caravan park in Clacton. 

Jessica Clark, from Colchester, was staying at Park Dean Resorts' Highfield Grange Holiday Park, in London Road, with husband Graham and children Darcy, 12, Ivy-Rose, 10, and Oliver, eight. 

The family went to the park for three nights earlier this month to celebrate Ivy-Rose's tenth birthday, instead of having a party at home. 

Birthday - Jessica and Ivy-Rose Clark Birthday - Jessica and Ivy-Rose Clark (Image: Jessica Clark) But Jessica claims the party was "tarnished" after finding stains, unclean utensils and wrappers around the caravan. 

She said: "When we first opened the door we were greeted with a very unfresh smell and it felt like we were rubbing shoulders with the people who left before us.

"The benches and sofas were stained and when the cleaners came they put blankets over the cushions to cover them up!

"There were sweet wrappers in rooms and packaging waste in kitchen cupboards - it was just gross."

Waste - rubbish and crumbs left in the cupboard Waste - rubbish and crumbs left in the cupboard (Image: Jessica Clark) The family bought cleaning products to after finding "every single utensil was sticky and greasy". 

Her son's duvet cover even slipped off and Jessica said the stain she saw was "absolutely foul". 

The power to the caravan was also turned off without the family's knowledge and they were unsure if they could eat the food in the fridge. 

'Not tolerable' - stains on one of the pillows 'Not tolerable' - stains on one of the pillows (Image: Jessica Clark) Jessica said: "My daughter's birthday was tarnished. She did say she had a nice time but she could sense we were all stressed.

"If it wasn't her birthday we would have left on the Friday but we persevered and tried to enjoy ourselves with no power to the caravan. 

"There is not a lot of stuff to do except stay in the caravan or spend money which I didn't really want to do as we had a bad taste in our mouths after having to buy cleaning supplies."

Rough - dirt in the sink Rough - dirt in the sink (Image: Jessica Clark) Jessica claims the holiday company is unable to give a refund until they find out who was responsible for cleaning their caravan. 

She said: "I complained on the day we got there and afterwards but they just sent me generic and insulting emails.

"I want my money back or even a voucher so we can take Ivy-Rose somewhere else.

"If they had said sorry I'd have moved on from this, but I think they are taking the mickey and don't want other people to have the same experience we did."

A spokesman for Highfield Grange said the company has since contacted the family.

They said: “We have strict standards for hygiene and cleanliness. As soon as we were made aware of this isolated issue, we offered to reclean the family’s accommodation or move them to alternative accommodation, both of which were declined.

"We have since reached out to the customer to offer a gesture of goodwill.

“Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, a cable on site was damaged and caused a power outage.

"All affected guests were offered free food and drink in the restaurant as a gesture of goodwill.”