Castle Hot Springs was Arizona’s first luxury resort and originally opened in 1896. After being shuttered for over 40 years, Castle Hot Springs will reopen in the Fall of 2018. A significant feature of the resort will be the Castle Hot Springs Farm, which will provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs to the resort’s restaurant.
Leading the cultivation are Ian Beger and David Bullock of Brother Nature Farms in Scottsdale, who pride themselves on growing unique heirloom variety crops. Growing in the Castle Hot Springs gardens and greenhouse will be over 150 varieties of produce, including rare selections of kale, carrots, beets, and beans, as well as 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. A blend of these tomatoes will be used to create a bottled Castle Hot Springs Bloody Mary mix in the future.
Ian Beger is a native Phoenician and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Controlled Environmental Agriculture. He and David Bullock are well-known within the Arizona culinary scene and have been providing produce to many top local restaurants.
Directing the culinary creations will be multi- award winning chef, Charles Wiley. Chef Wiley is the Culinary Director for Westroc Hospitality, who will be managing Castle Hot Springs. Westroc Hospitality oversees operations for the Hotel Valley Ho, Mountain Shadows, and the prestigious Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa.
The Farm at Castle Hot Springs will be irrigated directly from the historic and eternal mineral spring waters. Over 300,000 gallons per day of 120-degree pure mineral water flows from the 10,000 foot deep cistern under the property.
Castle Hot Springs is located in the southern foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains, just north of Lake Pleasant and approximately 50 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. For centuries, the area was a medicinal healing ground for Yavapai and Tonto Apache Indians. In 1865, Colonel Charles Craig and a troop of soldiers from Fort Whipple in Prescott, Arizona, discovered the springs while pursuing a gang of robbers of a mining camp.
Throughout the late 1800’s and 1900’s, Castle Hot Springs was a lavish retreat for many of America’s affluent families. Presidents Wilson, Hoover, and Coolidge all vacationed at Castle Hot Springs and John F. Kennedy spent three months there in 1945 recuperating from his World War II injuries.
