The people behind the country inn

A past steeped in history

Farnsburg Castle was built between 1319 and 1342 by the Counts of Thierstein. Historical records and analyses of the stone materials suggest that someone was already living on the rocky outcrop as early as the 13th century. Farnsburg Castle was built with a shield wall and featured a courtyard, a chapel and various other buildings and living quarters inside.

During the Old Zurich War, Baron von Falkenstein fought alongside the Habsburgs against the Swiss Confederates, who laid siege to Farnsburg with 600 men in August 1444. With matters still unresolved, this army withdrew to take part in the glorious heroic battle against the Armagnacs at St Jakob an der Birs (near Basel). Due to financial ruin, the Count of Falkenstein was forced to sell the County of Farnsburg to the city of Basel in August 1461. The castle continued to serve as the seat of the city’s chief bailiffs for a further 337 years.

But at the end of the 18th century, a new era dawned; the peasants no longer wished to be ruled by the townspeople. And so, in January 1798, during the French Revolution, the castle went up in flames. For 456 years, Farnsburg Castle had been the seat of authority over our homeland. In 1862, Johann Jakob Dettwiler of Reigoldswil acquired the Farnsburg mountain dairy. To generate additional income, in the 1890s, walkers were offered cheese and bread with wine or cider. Around the turn of the century, this simple enterprise developed into a renowned spa hotel, where wealthy families from Berlin and Basel’s aristocracy spent their summer holidays.