Ciara Ohartghaile

Represented by Claudia Young
Ciara Ohartghaile
With a lifelong love of baking inherited from her mother, Ciara loves to bake and cook with the best seasonal offerings, creating unique and beautiful cakes and dishes paired with foraged foods, edible flowers and high-quality local ingredients. She runs Ursa Minor bakery with her husband Dara on the wild and stunning north coast of Ireland, where the focus is on sourdough, patisserie influenced sweet bakes and fresh, local (real!) food. Ciara and Dara travelled round the world in 2011, and in New Zealand their love of food provenance and unique baking was sparked. Returning home to the north coast, they decided to bring what they had learnt to the community and the place they loved. With sell-out markets from the beginning, becoming an essential stop on the world famous Causeway Coastal Route, Ursa Minor has a loyal customer base of regulars as well as a strong fan following on social media. Ursa Minor runs baking and cooking classes, supper clubs and other events such as foraging walks, wild picnics and charitable events. Their recent raffle raised over £7000 for UNICEF efforts in Ukraine. Ursa Minor has been featured in the Irish Times, Sunday Times, Lonely Planet, Easyjet, The Guardian, the BBC, has been listed as Best In Ireland by the McKenna Guide every consecutive year since 2014, and was Slow Food Bakery of the Year in 2021 and 2022. Ursa Minor is also winner of a World Bread Award and is a Real Bread Ambassador. Ursa Minor is an Economusee, an international craft initiative promoting artisans at work and part of Taste Causeway which aims to promote the area as a world class food destination.

In her spare time, apart from enjoying good food and drink, Ciara loves to cycle and walk, especially in Ireland, travel (anywhere!) 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.