Somerset House Candle Making Workshop: Ambustum on Saturdays

Ambustum, a small London candle studio, teaches its Scented Candle Making Workshop inside Makerversity at Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Each session lasts 75 minutes, and the current booking calendar runs Saturday classes at 12:15pm, 2pm and 3:45pm plus a Thursday class at 6:15pm. The official page lists the seat at £36 for bookings made before the end of October 2026, and a second candle costs £22. It is one of the few candle making workshops in London held inside a Georgian landmark.

Ambustum describes itself as a small independent candle studio based in London, making small batch, hand poured scented candles. The name comes from a Latin word for burn, and the homepage says that is all that really matters to the makers: long lasting, clean burning candles. The shop sells finished jars online, from £18 for the smaller Honey & Tobacco size to £35 for scents such as Black Pomegranate, Damascena and Pear & Freesia. The workshop is where you get to make your own.

The class takes place at Makerversity, a creative workspace community based inside Somerset House, the eighteenth-century riverside building between the Strand and the Thames. It is not a shop with a door on the street. Ambustum rents a room there for each session, which shapes how you arrive, how many people sit at the table and what you should bring. Treat it like an appointment rather than a drop-in.

The workshop page is specific about arrival. Guests are collected from the New Wing reception of Somerset House, which sits on Lancaster Place, the road that runs up from Waterloo Bridge. Everyone is met at the reception at the start time, so take a seat there and wait. The page asks guests not to try to find the room on their own, because the host comes down to fetch the group together.

Somerset House has four entrances: the Strand, Waterloo Bridge, River Terrace and Victoria Embankment. Its own travel page says the Lancaster Place side is the best entrance for Makerversity and the New Wing, so skip the grand Strand archway if you are running late. Temple station on the Circle and District lines is the closest, about a five minute walk, and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line is roughly eight minutes away on foot.

The session is built for complete beginners, and Ambustum says no experience is needed. You start by smelling a selection of fragrances, choose your favourite, then learn how to blend, prepare and hand pour your own candle. The wax is the studio's coconut and rapeseed blend, the same base it uses for its retail range. Once the candle is poured, you design a personalised label so the jar leaves with your name or message on it.

The finished candle is rated at approximately 35 hours of burn time. Along the way the host shares tips on fragrance, wax and getting the best burn from a candle, such as how wick and wax behave on the first lighting. If you cannot settle on one scent, book the second candle add-on for £22. It has to be reserved in advance so materials are ready, and it is the studio's most popular extra.

Public bookings go through a ClassBento widget on the Ambustum site, and one booking takes up to four guests. The calendar shows how quickly the evening slot goes: every Thursday 6:15pm class from 12 November to 17 December was already marked sold out in late October, as were all three Saturday sessions on 31 October. Saturday 12:15pm and 2pm slots in November and December still had space, so weekend daytime is the realistic option for most people.

Groups of eight to 14 can request a private class instead. The ClassBento request form quotes £288 in total for eight guests, excluding add-ons, and says private bookings cannot be cancelled but can be rescheduled up to five days before the class. For a hen party or a team outing, that private format beats trying to stitch together several four-person public bookings on the same afternoon.

The product page pitches the class at friends, couples on a date, people bringing their mum and solo guests, and the Saturday groups tend to look like exactly that mix. Reviews on the booking widget give the teacher 4.9 out of 5 from 145 ratings. Because the room sits inside Makerversity, you may share corridors with designers and makers heading to their own studios, which adds to the feeling of a working building rather than an attraction.

An honest note: if you want to study fragrance chemistry or make several jars, this is not the class. It is a single, well guided candle in 75 minutes. People who want a longer session with more take-home pieces should look at Wick & Ceramic in Ickenham, whose Friday evening workshop makes three soy candles, or Ohros in Hackney, which runs two-hour weekend pours.

Step out of the New Wing and you are already at one of the best short walks in central London. Cross into the main courtyard of Somerset House, where the fountains run in warmer months and the ice rink goes up in winter, then head to the River Terrace for a view east toward St Paul's. The Courtauld Gallery, inside the same building, holds a famous collection of Impressionist paintings if you want an hour of art.

From the River Terrace, walk onto Waterloo Bridge for one of the widest views of the Thames, with the London Eye upstream and the City downstream. Alternatively, head north along the Strand and through the streets of Covent Garden toward the piazza, ten minutes away. Victoria Embankment, below the building, leads east to Temple and its gardens, an easy route to the Tube with your candle box in hand.

When every slot you want is sold out, join the ClassBento waitlist: the widget says new dates are usually added every two weeks. Earl of East's Beginners Candle Making Workshop in Quadrant Arcade, off Regent Street, is a 60-minute alternative within walking distance, about 20 minutes west along the Strand and Pall Mall. Its classes take up to eight guests and accept ages 12 and up with a booked adult.

Venue: Ambustum Scented Candle Making Workshop, Makerversity, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Meet at the New Wing reception on Lancaster Place at your start time. Sessions: Saturdays 12:15pm, 2pm and 3:45pm; Thursdays 6:15pm. Duration 75 minutes. Price £36 when booked before the end of October 2026; second candle £22. Up to four guests per public booking; private classes for eight to 14. Contact: hello@ambustum.co.uk. Nearest stations: Temple and Covent Garden. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a pre-class lunch near the Strand.