Sunderland woman stayed in fly-infested and dirty chalet

Natalie Meddes, from Sunderland, booked a break with Parkdean Resorts at their Summerfields holiday park near Great Yarmouth for her, her partner and their three kids.

But after a seven-and-a-half-hour drive down the east coast they arrived to find their room riddled with flies.

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Natalie, a manager at a utilities company, said: “I booked it about three months ago because we wanted to have a few days together but not spend loads on going abroad.

“It took us seven-and-a-half-hours to get there, and went to get the keys.

The windowsills were covered in flying ants when they arrived. (Image: NATALIE MEDDES)

“When we got to the room there were flies all over the windowsill, it didn’t look like it had been cleaned properly and was nothing like the pictures.

“It looked more like something from police interceptors where they go to a drug raid.

“I went straight back to reception because I wasn’t happy, and they told me they couldn’t move us. They just sent a maintenance man with a can of ant spray.”

Parkdean describes its maisonettes as “spacious and modern” and “a real home from home”.

There were ants crawling along the back of the sofa. (Image: NATALIE MEDDES)

The next day Natalie decided to complain to Parkdean’s CEO by email but was shocked to be copied into his response when he forwarded it on to a colleague.

Replying to her email Chief Exec Steve Richards said, “here’s another one…”.

“He accidentally copied me into the email saying, ‘here’s another one’,” Natalie added. “It really wound me up, it shows how much they care about complaints.”

By the fourth day of their stay Natalie returned to the maisonette, which cost her £709 for four nights, and found flying ants had infested the abode.

The flying ants were hatching in the carpet, Natalie found. (Image: NATALIE MEDDES)

She said: “We got back and there were flying ants everywhere – they’d eaten our bread and biscuits in the kitchen.

“When I got down on the floor, I saw they had hatched in the carpet.

“On the Friday when we went to leave there was fresh bedding outside, so they were clearly going to have new people going in after we’d left even though I’d complained.

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“We had an apology for the CEO copying us into the email but haven’t had an apology or a refund for the state of the accommodation.

“I would never stay there again – it was awful.”

Parkdean has since said offered Natalie compensation after it was contacted by The Northern Echo.

In a statement a spokesperson for Summerfields Holiday Park said: “We’re disappointed about Natalie’s experience and have been liaising with her about this incident since it was brought to our attention.

“We have apologised to Natalie and her guests for the inconvenience, issuing her a partial refund, along with additional compensation.

“We take pride in our accommodation standards and cleaning protocols, and we will be looking into this isolated experience and what caused this particular issue.”

Last year the Norfolk holiday park was one of four Parkdean resourts given the Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Award.