jawdropping

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.

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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).

Kobe Bryant rookie trading cards aren’t particularly rare. And because rarity equates to value, standard issue 1997 cards featuring the late Lakers great retail for a pedestrian $100 to $300.

Then there are 1997 Kobe Bryant Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Green cards, which just by typing that highfalutin name can give even the most savvy collector goose bumps.

The key word is green. Most Bryant rookie Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems cards have a red background and fetch around $300,000. Only 10 were made with a metallic green background and only three have been graded by respected grading firm Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA).

So green translates to greenbacks. Alt, a company that enables users to sell, buy and securely store collectible cards, announced Thursday it purchased one of those — take a breath first — 1997 Kobe Bryant Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Green cards in a private transaction for $3.15 million.

The company said on Instagram that the purchase makes it the most expensive Bryant card ever sold, eclipsing the previous record of $2.4 million set in September. Another copy of the same card sold for $2 million in 2022.

“It was on every collector’s wall, in every price guide, at the top of every wish list,” Alt CEO Leore Avidar Avidar said on Alt’s Instagram page. “Acquiring it for our fund is personal, but it’s also a reflection of where this market has gone.”

The image of Bryant in midair passing — not shooting! — highlights the card, which earned a PSA 5 grade.

The card adds to Alt’s impressive collection. The fund set price records at time of purchase for LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo cards in addition to the one of Bryant.

The most paid for a sports trading card was $12.932 million for a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs signed card featuring Bryant and Michael Jordan last fall. The purchase was made by investor and “Shark Tank” personality Kevin O’Leary along with veteran collectors Matt Allen and Paul Warshaw and surpassed the previous record of $12.6 million held by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card.

The Bryant/Jordan card is the second-most expensive sports collectible of all time behind Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey, which sold for $24.12 million in 2024.

High-end Bryant cards remain coveted by collectors. Allen, well known in the industry as Shyne150, privately spent $4 million on two Bryant 1-of-1 signed Panini Flawless Logoman cards.