Ciara Ó hArtghaile

Ciara lives on the edge of Ireland; her passion is to share food and stories with people. She has a lifelong love of baking inherited from her mother and loves to create beautiful plates of food made with high quality ingredients and foraged foods, celebrating the seasons. Ciara is dedicated to improving the way we eat through delicious recipes woven with lyrical storytelling and gentle encouragement to reconnect with the natural world. Her unique perspective of living in tandem with the Celtic seasons and sympathetically within our landscape creates an emotional tie, a commitment to community and a desire to connect to the values of our ancestral roots. All these things make food more joyous!

Ciara runs multi award winning Ursa Minor bakery with her husband Dara where the focus is on sourdough, patisserie influenced sweet bakes and fresh, local food. Returning home to settle on the stunning North Coast after a year of travelling, they decided to bring what they had learnt to the community and the place they love. With sell-out markets from the beginning and now an essential stop on the world-famous Causeway Coastal Route, Ursa Minor has a loyal customer base of regulars as well as a dedicated fan following.

In her spare time, apart from enjoying good food and drink, Ciara writes a weekly blog called Gorse, loves to cycle and walk, travel with her family and read as much as possible. Ciara lives near Ballycastle in the Glens of Antrim with Dara and their three children Cillian, Michael and Easkey.

Awards

Best Food Blog, Irish Food Writing Awards November 2024

Named in top Influential people 2025 Irish Times

Ciara's substack can be found here.