AN OXFORD vicar is swapping his dog collar for a life of sun, sea and sailing, as he heads off into the sunset next month.

The Rev Jonathan Sewell has been vicar of St Mary’s Church, in Barton, for more than 12 years.

But now he is taking six months off to become a flotilla skipper in Croatia, leading up to 12 boats of holidaymakers through the islands of the Adriatic over the summer and indulging a lifelong love of sailing.

Mr Sewell, 50, said: “I thought if I’m not going to go now, I’m never going to. I had to make the decision to either stay here or go off and do something else.”

Mr Sewell will help tourists take sailing qualifications and guide them along the Croatian coast.

He said: “It’s quite like being a vicar, jollying people along.”

Mr Sewell was ordained 25 years ago in Derby Cathedral and took charge at St Mary’s in September 1998 after working in Nottingham, London and Winchester.

He has served as a governor at Barton Village School and Bayswater Middle School and was a member of the area regeneration committee.

He said: “Barton has improved a lot in the past 12 years. It’s far more affluent and we have high levels of employment and low levels of crime now. Barton is safe, which 12 years ago wasn’t the case.”

Away from work, Mr Sewell has appeared in many Oxford Operatic Society shows and has been an extra in Harry Potter films and in TV dramas Lewis, Midsomer Murders and Casualty.

He will be leaving behind his four-year-old black labrador Jet, who will live with his brother in the Lake District.

Mr Sewell said it would be sad to leave after so much time.

He added: “You become a part of people’s lives, conducting their weddings and funerals and become embedded in a place. But I’m excited. I’m immensely sad to leave Barton, because it has been my home, but having something different to do is always exciting.”

Mr Sewell’s last Sunday services in Barton will be on Sunday, April 10, before he flies out to Croatia on the following Monday.

He plans to take up a new post with the Church of England on his return to the UK in October.