SOAKING up the breathtaking Perthshire scenery in style is the perfect way to unwind.
Here, Janice Hopper goes glamping in a wagon and discovers some of the area’s best beauty spots.
The Pad
With a wood-fired bath that offers sweeping views over Loch Doine and Loch Voil, an outdoor pizza oven and a wood-burning stove, a stay in Monachyle Mhor’s restored 1950’s Pilot Panther showman’s wagon is pretty unforgettable.
Set on a 2,000-acre working family farm within the stunning Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, it has a double bed, cute bunks and bucketloads of vintage charm.
At the estate’s blush-pink farmhouse, you’ll find your private bathroom and get a free cuppa as you sink into deep-green sofas beside the fire to play board games – just be sure to tuck into delicious, home-made chocolate cake, £4 a slice, while you do.
Explore
Start your day with a bracing wild swim in Loch Voil, before warming up in Monachyle’s cocooning sauna, from £20 per hour.
Then stroll five minutes along the shore to discover the LookOut artwork – a mirrored cube reflecting the landscape.
Kids will love the hour-long farm tour, collecting eggs, meeting donkeys Jake and Mylo, and feeding lambs, £20 per family.
Or, ditch the clan to try apitherapy – lying in an “apipod”, listening to 60,000 bees buzzing away in the hives beneath you.
It’s surprisingly calming and costs £25 for one hour, including soothing lemon balm tea (Monachyle mhor.net/experience).
Just four miles away is the quaint village of Balquhidder, where you can check out the resting place of famed Scottish outlaw Rob Roy, buried in 1734.
Later, hop in a canoe to beaver-spot on beautiful Loch Tay with CAG Adventures. A two-hour tour costs £40 per person (Cagadventures.com).
Refuel
Combine seafood with the landscape at Falls Of Dochart Smokehouse.
As the roar of the waterfall surges in the background, tuck into a platter of hot and cold whisky-smoked salmon, cheddar, paté, plus oatcakes and blinis, from £22, while sipping gin infused with local tayberries, £7.40 (Fallsofdochart.co.uk).
Quaint cafe The Golden Larches serves up tasty cream teas, £4.75 (Thegoldenlarches.com).
Or join exuberant owner and chef of Monachyle Mhor, Tom Lewis, on a wine safari, combining walking Balquhidder Glen with nibbles and plenty of vino stops. Six-hour wine safaris cost £150 per person.
After a hiking pit stop? It’s got to be Broch Cafe’s suntrap terrace in Strathyre, where you can recharge with a generous BLT, £9.50 (Brochcafe.com).
It handily sits on the 79-mile Rob Roy Way, and the scenic stretch from Strathyre to Callander along Loch Lubnaig is a much more manageable nine miles (Robroyway.com).
Book It
Stays in The Wagon cost £170 per night for up to four guests (Monachylemhor.net).