JORVIK embraces a feast for the senses – with take-away smells in a candle!

Viking celebrations are legendary – in fact, Viking heaven is a hall where warriors feast day and night, and the Feast at JORVIK Viking Festival sells out every year! 

Now, the retail team at JORVIK Viking Centre has teamed up with a York-based olfactory artist to offer a way to bring the smell into your own home – Room Spell’s Jorvik Feast candle.

JORVIK is well-known for offering the sights, sounds and smells of Viking-age York to visitors from every corner of the globe, but this is the first aroma of a Viking feast that people can take home with them.  Newly added to the swords, axes, jewellery and freshly-minted coins in the gift shop, it is expected to be a popular souvenir for Norse-enthusiasts.

The candle was created by York resident Dan Oliver Gott, who has produced a series of unusual scented candles with a distinctly off-beat theme.  JORVIK Viking Centre will be the only place in the city where you can purchase the Jorvik Feast candle, whilst the Magic & Mystery Shop at Monk Bar will stock three magical-themed candles: The Hex, York 1349 and Deadly Sins.

“If you think of Willy Wonka’s Everlasting Gobstoppers, which could give you the taste of a full meal in a single confection, I’ve done the same with a candle – an aroma that changes as the candle burns down to create a full feast of scent, ranging from smoked meats to fresh bread, rolled oats and orchard fruits,” explains Dan.  “And no Viking feast is complete without lashings of beer, so there is a hoppy aroma that runs throughout.”

Paul Ruxton, JORVIK’s retail buyer, “The recreated smells of Viking-age York have been part of JORVIK’s story since it opened in 1984, including a heady mixture of pleasant and unpleasant aromas, from apples and damp forest to rotting meat and cesspit.  This candle definitely captures the delicious smells of a feast – you can almost imagine that this is the aroma that greets fallen warriors as they are welcomed into Valhalla.”

The Jorvik Feast candles come in a stylish tin and have a burn time of around 42 hours, priced at £18.50.  The JORVIK Viking Centre gift shop is open to everyone (no admission required) during JORVIK’s normal opening hours.