Ursa Minor Bakehouse

20/06/2026

It’s a beautiful day on the North Coast 🌞 The window is full and the pastry cabinet is filling up. Come along and help us empty them both!

19/06/2026

Wowee 2023 seemed packed! Some of the best bits…
A bakers trip around Irelands stars including SarahRichards Savoir Fare
Ciara started her substack GORSE
We had loads of collab dinners! With marvellous people like Beth O'Brien Mike's Fancy Cheese T A C A C U C I N A / lorna Tara Gartlan Chocolate
We got beautiful veg as always from our incredible suppliers and friends Broughgammon Farm rhee_river_organics
We catered a massive party
We went on holiday to Scotland and met the wonderful Darcie Maher just as Lannan Bakery & Pantry was about to open
The most excellent humans cooked with us and then so did all these amazing people Niamh Barry Harry's Nut Butter Robbie Mccauley Homestead Cottage
We podcasted with Bog & Thunder
Met up with loveens Lily Joyce Jonny and Cliodhna Prendergast in the west
Hing out with friends old and new
Delivered hundreds of mince pies for FieldDay Ireland Candles
Said goodbye to our laminator extraordinaire Alan and continued to have the best staff we’ve ever worked alongside x
Julie Martin Blàthnait Ni Artghaile Alexandra Dickson Eleanor Patience Allan ❤️

15/06/2026

2021-22
A family of five. We did lots of things post lockdown, tried and failed at a few. Always aiming to provide something different for our incredible community and to feed them yummy things, all the nourishment. Charity quizzes, fundraising, new dinners, dinner with friends in Connemara THE SEAHARE we had staff trips, put on a big lovely dinner event with S T A Y L A G O M we saved up for a new oven, we opened Ursa Minor Minor in beautiful Ballintoy, we ran inquisitive evenings around our beloved coast with Ewen Friers Fed the masses at the Lammas fair and moved the kitchen upstairs for a bit (not a great idea)
Wow that was a lot!

12/06/2026

Lockdown. The strangest time of all our lives. Closed completely, then home deliveries, admin central needed to call in some help, made lots of pizzas in the garden, opened for take away, grew another human, had a lot of outside time in lovely weather, said goodbye to our granny Betty (we found this Kahlil Gibran quote in her purse) painted the cafe, worked on Christmas preorders, brought back classes and got back to baking. Thankful for our incredible community, we felt so supported in the madness of the time.

11/06/2026

2017 we moved! Down to beautiful Ann street in the old Craft Connections building, we were lucky that it was in such great condition and we could move in after just a couple of months. We just about got the oven in through the window! The wonderful BTS CONCEPT STORE - interiors + lifestyle helped us get the space looking lovely and we hit the ground running with more fun events, outside catering and baking classes. Back then we also made lunches to order-crazy! We welcomed our second child Michael in the summer and continued our favourite traditions; swimming in the always cold sea and car adventures/Tessie Thursdays Tessies

10/06/2026

Interrupting our story with more important things. Our work is rooted in community, by providing a safe welcoming place for all, with locally grown food, creating a circular economy and an environment of good and positivity. We feel a responsibility to modernise, to reframe and try to improve the image that our northern land has beyond our shores. We live in such an amazing place, a contemporary unique and fascinating place, a place with beauty beyond words and people with empathy and heart in spades. We love it here. But we are appalled at what we have seen on the news. We are drained of energy and bewildered at the actions of fellow countrymen and women. We are so sad that our children are witnessing such disgraceful hatred. We must stand in solidarity with all those who are against this violence and send our love and kindness to all those affected x

09/06/2026

Progress; Dara needed to buy more equipment to scale up his baking while I still baked everything from our home kitchen. We connected with incredibly supportive groups like and the amazing where we met lots of our peers with similar passion. We got some staff and Carys and with their help put on some gorgeous events in the tiny cafe space including supper clubs and gigs. We tried baking new things and kept learning all the time from masters like and supported other peoples independent endeavours by offering a space for retail. All the while we were dedicated to bringing people something unique, of high quality and with a lot of heart.

08/06/2026

A space to share
In 2015 we were offered space the shopfront at for another pop up, this time we asked our friends (pre cafe!) if they would come and serve coffee and we had an amazing day. We decided if we wanted to bake bread and cake for our community we should try and get a coffee machine too so we thought we’d try a crowdfunding campaign. We needed £6k to buy coffee machine, grinder, wood to a make a counter, paint and crockery and we were backed by hundreds of incredibly generous folk from all round the world. We sourced seats and tables from the wonderful Marty and pretty much everything else was handmade or gifted. We were so excited when we opened the doors and actual customers came in! And so began the castle street era x

07/06/2026

07/06/2026

2014
We were learning how to bake. Dara’s first loaf, bread brownies, doughnuts and friands were our faves. We lived in a little flat in town where we practiced baking on our days off. We started doing the markets which we loved and they were a wonderful way to meet more of our amazing community here in Ballycastle. Then we were expecting our first child and we called the bump our little bear which is where the name Ursa Minor came from. Our family and friends helped us out so much especially our parents, for the signage. We kept doing markets and tiny Cillian visited his first stall when he was only one month old! Around Christmas that year our friends let us use their space for a pop up, a festive week of mulled wine and baking and serving our incredible customers. It got us thinking seriously about a more permanent set up.