A FAMILY slammed the “worst seaside holiday park ever” with a filthy caravan in a pub carpark with no beach in sight.
Richard and Lindsay Brown claimed they were horrified when they uncovered stains on their bedding and bugs crawling around their room at Cowden Holiday Park, Yorkshire.
The couple, who paid £195 for the trip, were looking forward to a three night stay with their four daughters but fled after less than 24 hours.
It was their three-month-old baby girl’s first holiday – which Richard and Lindsay claimed was nothing short of a nightmare.
It was the worst holiday park I’ve ever stayed in. It was the holiday park from hell
Richard Brown
And, their caravan was in a pub car park and the nearest beach was a “20-minute walk down 50mph roads”.
Richard resorted to blasting the holiday park on TikTok, posting a video showing safety hazards for his kids.
However, instead of support, the parents were met with fierce backlash and “mass reporting” for “child nudity” over the pictures shared of his daughter’s injuries.
It was banned at around 400,000 views for “nudity and sexual activity involving minors” and the couple believe friends of the caravan park were to blame.
“It was online bullying. That was the final straw for me. I was gobsmacked. Totally unprofessional,” said Richard.
“They tried everything to take down the videos. My videos were getting banned left right and centre on Tiktok. Because I refused to take it down they thought they’d take it into their own hands and report all my videos,” he added.
They were bombarded by vile comments such as be a “f**king man” instead of a “schoolboy” and remove the “sad little video”.
Meanwhile, the holiday park only said they would issue a refund if the family removed their TikTok video.
Richard said: “They rang me up and basically said to me ‘if you don’t take the video down you won’t get a refund’.
But the defiant family-of-six kept their post uploaded – with the caption “This is honestly the worst park we’ve stayed at and we’re easily pleased”.
Richard, who lives in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, said: “It was the worst holiday park I’ve ever stayed in. It was the holiday park from hell.
“It was our first ever family holiday with our baby and it was spoiled by the experience. When you’ve got a newborn baby you’re just hoping everything’s clean and safe for them.
My daughter [11-year-old Isabelle Brown] scraped her back on [the playground] really bad. There were sharp little clips on it as she was crawling through the tunnel
Richard Brown
“The beds and the cleanliness of the place kind of spoiled it. It looked like skid marks on the bed sheets. It could’ve been someone’s makeup. It was brown. We didn’t investigate it that far.
“We were expecting to go to a holiday park and let the kids run free. We weren’t able to because it was in a pub car park. It was just next to a bunch of people smoking and drinking outside.
“There were pictures [online] of families playing on the beach so I assumed there was a beach nearby.
“When we got there it was along a 50 mph country road. I was like ‘there’s no way’. We started walking there and went back to the car. I was with five kids and an elderly pensioner.
“My daughter [11-year-old Isabelle Brown] scraped her back on [the playground] really bad. There were sharp little clips on it as she was crawling through the tunnel.
“Not all holiday parks are great. Our expectations were low. We just want somewhere clean and got enough beds for everyone to sleep in. That’s what we’ll be happy with.”
The family were eventually fully reimbursed for their booking but Richard still dubbed it the “holiday park from hell”.
“Later that day they rang me up and said they’d give me the refund but that they don’t want me to make any more videos because they don’t want any more exposure,” said Richard.
A spokesperson for Cowden Holiday Park said the website made it clear the beach is a short walk from the park.
They claimed their bedding is checked by their laundry company as well as their housekeeping company.
They said they “feel Richard’s account is not a true reflection” of his stay as he did not report any issues while he was there.
But the dad-of-four claimed: “They tried to say on the phone ‘why didn’t you let us know about it’. We didn’t have a choice.
“By the time we unloaded our car and put all our stuff in and I started to notice things one after the other the reception was shut.”
The content creator has been reviewing holiday parks for four years as a content creator.
“I had intended for it to be a positive review. I didn’t expect it to be that way. I had the woman on the phone say to me ‘we’re a small family business’,” he explained.
“I did feel bad for her in that regard but at the same time it wasn’t my responsibility for there to be clean bed linen.
“We’re paying a price and it was up to them that they didn’t make the holiday turn out that way. That was their responsibility, not ours.
“I’m just there to review it. It’s not up to me to make a good or bad review. It was how they intended for it to turn out.
“I shouldn’t have to delete it just because it’s negative because that’s not on me. It wasn’t my responsibility to make the holiday a positive experience. That’s the responsibility of whoever’s providing it.”
A Cowden Holiday Park spokesperson said: “The location is clearly stated on the website at the point of booking the holiday, along with the rest of the rental units.
“Our bedding goes through rigorous checks with initially our laundry company who spot check for stains and secondly checked by our housekeeping company. The stains were not reported during either of these checks.
“When the party checked out early, they were asked if everything was okay during their stay. We were told it was fine and no points were raised.
“The description on the website states that the beach is a short walk from the park. This was fully explained to the customer at the point of check in; access to the beach takes approximately a minute’s drive in the car.
“The children’s playground is subject to checks from an external company who provides a health and safety report – API and ROSPA accredited.
“We asked for the video to be removed from social media as we felt it was not a true reflection of customer’s experiences of our holiday park and we provided a full refund regardless.
“Mr Brown continued to post viral videos and recorded staff without their knowing or consent.
“We believe that this guest has grossly misrepresented the circumstances of their stay at the park, [his mother] received a full refund on 26/07/2024 and we understood that was the end of the matter.
“The majority of our customers enjoy their experience of staying with us, leading to repeat custom and our many 5* reviews support this.”
