An English woman who has never been to Wales woke up 10 weeks ago with a Welsh accent. 

Until recently, Zoe Coles had a “normal, boring accent” that was typical for people in her home in Lincolnshire, in the English East Midlands.

She has never been to Wales, does not know a Welsh person and her only exposure to the accent was from watching TV.

“The only Welsh accent I’ve ever heard is Tom Jones on the telly,” she told Moncrieff in a voice that sounds straight out of the Valleys.

“That’s the only person I’ve heard.”

It is most likely Ms Coles has something called Foreign Accent Syndrome - an extremely rare condition where people wake up one day with a voice that is completely different to the one they had before.

Estimates of how many people are affected by it vary; but in the past century there have only been around 100 reported cases.

When Ms Coles went to her GP, he was blunt that he had never encountered a patient with a similar problem.

“What do you want me to do?’" he asked her.

Initially, she hoped it would go away - but after 10 weeks, she thinks she is stuck with it.

“I have got used to it,” she said.

“I have adapted to it - what can you do?

“I feel like in life, you have to play the cards you’re dealt and that’s what I’ve done.

“I just have to get on with it.”

A 'Welcome to Wales' road sign.

The condition also led her to temporarily give up work because she felt worried people would judge her.

“I was scared to go to work because there were so many questions,” she said.

“I get it; people don’t believe that you’ve just woken up with an accent - it is quite difficult to believe.

“It’s a really rare thing to happen - but it has happened - and I didn’t want to just keep explaining myself to people.

“So, I took some time out.”

She feels ready to go back to work now and also would like to make herself available to anyone who wants to find out more about the condition.

“I’ve done an appeal,” she said.

“I want to find a neurologist that wants to study this and wants to research this because it’s not a normal thing to wake up with.

“Who on earth wakes up with a totally different accent?”

Other people who have had Foreign Accent Syndrome have woken up with Chinese, English, American or Spanish accents.

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Main image: Zoe and a Welsh flag