by Martin Saul

 This article was originally published in the August 2009 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society

If you are in the Oxfordshire area, may I recommend a visit to The Roebuck at Drayton. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon and they serve a great choice of food and very fine beer.

The landlord of The Roebuck is Nick Saul whose family links back to the Sauls of Leamington. Nick shares Great, Great, Great Grand parents with me: William Saul and Charlotte nee Carter.

Nick’s family movements are interesting, as Nick’s ancestors left Leamington in the mid 1800’s to settle in Birmingham, where Nick spent most of his life until moving to Drayton a few years ago.

Unbeknown to Nick, until we met the other week, he has gone almost full circle, as Drayton is only a mile or two at the most from Horley, the village the early Sauls in Leamington had come from in the late 1700’s.

The Roebuck at Drayton is definitely worth a visit, and a possible venue for a future Sole Society gathering?