An adopted Cumbrian woman returned to the country where she was born to meet her birth parents for the first time in more than 20 years.

Ana Crome said it was hard to explain how she felt visiting her family, seeing Romania and speaking her native language.

Although she was born in Romania, her birth mum, Angela Nicolae, brought her daughter to the UK for critical surgery necessary for her disability when she was 18-months-old.

Angela then put her beloved daughter up for adoption and flew home thinking she would never see her child again.

The 27-year-old, who grew up in Cumbria, said: “This is my home, England is where I love.

"I felt a bit easier [in Romania]. I didn't really feel like the odd ball because we all look the same with all the big noses.

“I could see where some of my behaviour comes from like the feistiness and complete disorganisation skills.”

Ana suffers from arthrogryposis, a rare condition where, because her mum’s womb wasn’t big enough, her joints fixed together in whatever position they could.

She has limited movement in her arms and is in a wheelchair.

She can only walk a couple of metres at a time with great difficulty.

Despite this, she walked 0.3 miles – further than she has ever walked before – from Marks and Spencer, on Penrith's King Street, to the Lonsdale Cinema, Middlegate, to raise money to pay for the trip to Romania.

She raised a total of £1,200 meaning she could take a carer with her.

Ana flew to Bucharest last month for three days.

She met her mum and dad at the hotel she was staying at on Saturday and then visited their home, which was a two hour drive from Bucharest, on Sunday, where she met more relatives.

Ana, who has been learning Romanian, was able to hold a conversation with them.

Ana said: “It was quite nice talking in Romanian, that felt easy. It's never felt like another language.

“Having full blown conversations and listening to my birth mum speak – it was all familiar and that's weird.”

Ana was adopted by Pam Carter, and the new family moved to Cumbria when Ana was about five-years-old.

She has since lived in Tallentire, near Cockermouth, Workington and Whitehaven until 2012 when she moved out into her own flat in Penrith. She recently moved to Kendal.

Ana never wanted her birth parents to feel guilty about putting her up for adoption. She said she has a good life and her adopted parents are amazing.

Now that she has visited Romania once Ana hopes she will be able to visit for a weekend every year.