Villagers are furious after obscene graffiti was scrawled over new children's play equipment within days of it being installed.

The vandalism has upset families and angered the parish council in Teynham, near Faversham, which is now urging parents to send a message to young people that it is unacceptable.

The tagging has blighted a new £180,000 play area on The Meadow next to the village hall which was opened last month with a fanfare by Princess Olga Romanoff - the Queen's cousin - as part of Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

But parish council chairman Clive Brodigan says he and fellow members are dismayed the equipment has been repeatedly targeted and a metal gate badly damaged.

"Some of it is quite unpleasant and not the sort of thing children should see," he said.

"Mums have been out trying to clean it off and obviously we will try and get rid of it too.

"The metal gate looked like it had been bent with a crow bar - so not the work of a small child with a stick.

"It's very disappointing because there was great excitement and hundreds of people turned out for the official Royal opening."

The damage has upset many residents. Writing on the parish council's Facebook page Mandy Neat says: "Such a shame it has come to this. There seems to be a lot of anti-social behaviour lately in the village."

The new extended play park was especially designed so that all children can use it, including the disabled.

It replaced an old, dilapidated play area and has a much wider range of equipment, including a 25 metre zip-wire and big play tower.

The second phase, including a multi-use games area, will be opened later this month and have an all-weather surface for football, basketball, tennis, netball and cricket.

Mr Brodigan said: "We got £150,000 in developer contributions to pay for it and new sports facilities, to which the parish council added a further £30,000.

"We just want families and children to be able to enjoy the play area and I hope parents will re-enforce the message that vandalism is unacceptable.

"We've reported the damage to the police along with descriptions of the individuals suspected to be involved and are now also looking at options for installing CCTV."