Does anybody else have a fireplace made out of this infuriating material

[AnnListersBlister]

Photo doesn't really show much! Basically it feels a bit like artex. It's 'bitty' and abrasive, not smooth. It looks nice when it is clean, but if you wipe it wirh something any tiny sosck of dirt just smudges rather than sticking to the cloth, because the surface is so rough. How on earth are you meant to clean this stuff?
I've just tried cleaning a tiny speck of mud from it and it looks ten times worth than before!

Speck, not sosck!

Could it be a bad paint job, rather than the material itself?

I really don't think it is. It looks fine, and is exactly the same texture throughout and quite a large fireplace for a smallish room. It's so annoying! I've lived here a year and fed up of gingerly dabbing a cloth at any mark and getting huge clumps

I have one the same, a gritty surface that clings into anything you try to clean it with, it looks worse after cleaning it than before! I just hover it 😭

I vacuum mine too. But I have a dog, and if any mud gets on it I've no chance