History

La Bastide des Lavandieres , Route de Lezan , Canaules 30350 , France Tel: +33 98 0401972 (France) /+353 87 2228602 (Ireland) 

For over a century & a half La Bastide des Lavandieres has been a prominent feature in the small village of Canaules . Originaly constructed in 1850 it has had a few different  & diverse existenses during the intervening years .  At various times during the 160 years or so it has been here the building has served the village as both a small hotel , a cafe & during the 50's & 60's - a chique French nightclub . Canaules is now a quiet village but during this period it was actually known as "The Saint-Tropez of the Cevennes" Among some of the high profile personalities who performed there was the French Elvis - Johnny Hallyday . He may not be widely known in Ireland or the UK but he has had a 48 year career in music & he is still one of France's biggest stars having performed in front of 15 million people & sold 100 million records - 18 of which were platinum albums . Other famous French singers performed in Canaules also including Jacques Brel , Francoise Hardy & Charles Aznavour .                       

Parts of the current Apartments 1 & 2 were where the nightclub would have have been located in the building . You can actually see from some of the    photo's below the bright paintwork & mirrors that would have been in use    at this time . 

If you can speak / read French & you'd like to learn about more about the     Bastide & the history of Canaules then you should purchase a book called     L'Olympia des Cevennes by Pierre-Albert Clement published in July 2008.  It  is a memoir of the village concentrating especially on the 50's & 60's when  the big French performers all appeared here . 

Work on converting the Bastide into the 7 luxury apartments that are there today began in early 2007 & was completed in mid 2008 . Because of the age of the building a lot of renovation work was required in order to retain the character of such a beautiful 19th century building . Below you will find a history in photo's of the entire building & renovation project .  Just click on the 1st photo in each sequence & then move your mouse to the right  & click next to view all subsequent photo's               

JUNE 2007

JULY 2007

AUGUST 2007

SEPTEMBER 2007

OCTOBER 2007

NOVEMBER 2007

JANUARY 2008

MARCH 2008

MAY 2008

APRIL 2008

JULY 2008

Recent History

AUGUST 2008