It's easy to think of islands as small. We can walk (or at least drive) around many of them in a day - some in an hour.

But how about some of the bigger ones? Technically a couple of continental landmasses have become 'islands' because of canals (Africa, South America); Australia is the only island/continent; and then there's Antarctica.

But if we cut out those, there are still plenty of quite huge islands. Let's take a look at five (plus one) that offer a lot to the visitor:

Borneo

With an area of 748,168sq km, this is the world's third biggest island. Close to the equator, it is shared between Eastern Malaysia and Indonesia.

Be honest. If you were unexpectedly asked to say where Sabah is, would you know? Most of us might hazard a guess that it is in south-east Asia. Some might know it is a state of Malaysia, and even fewer might come up with the correct answer: that it is one of the two Malaysian states now referred to by the locals as East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. In my school atlas it was called North Borneo and shaded pink. But that was before Malaya became Malaysia in 1957, and Sabah, formerly a British Crown colony became a member of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.

Once this wild and jungly land was home to head-hunters, its shores threatened by pirates, the mountains and deep valleys war zones. Today's Sabah is different, a quiet and immensely beautiful place. This is where Mt Kinabalu, south-east Asia's highest peak, chops the sky at 4,101metres with its jagged profile. Never forget that one metre as sometime - maybe in our grandchildren's grandchildren's era - it will have increased to two for they say the mountain, originally formed by some immense subterranean upthrust, is still 'growing' at the rate of a half centimetre a year.  Read more....

Great Britain

Maybe surprisingly, covering 209,331 square kilometres, this is the world's ninth largest island. It encompases Scotland, Wales and England, and the Cotswolds area is one the loveliest rural places to visit.      

"I have to take you to see the long barrow," says Mike, our guide. "If I don't, Roy won't forgive me. He thinks a lot of barrows, does Roy."

So we stop at a farm gate and dutifully leave our Cotswold Safaris 4WD and file through the farm gate to respectfully regard a green hump in the field.

Fortunately Mike's knowledge of barrows - Neolithic burial chambers - is limited. About a tenth of Roy's. I know this because others in my group, travelling in his vehicle, learned substantially more.

You've got to love a place so locked in with history. Here, in the Cotswolds, just a couple of hours west of London, the major connecting road - Fosse Way - is a Roman road named for the ditch that once ran beside it. And the worst thing that could happen in the Slaughters, despite the violent name give them in the Middle Ages, is that you might slip over and sprain your wellie. That's because it's simply a medieval term for a marshy, muddy place.

Not that this place is in a time warp. All the current celebs and blue-bloods choose to live here. Prince Charles hides out at Highgrove, near Tetbury. Stella McCartney, Liz Hurley and Kate Winslet all own property here, and even posh-noshing chef Allan Coxon lives at Evesham.

The place is used to top brass though. There's an impressive list of famous residents, kicked off by Shakespeare at Stratford on Avon, through William Morris, designer and founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, to Winston Churchill who was brought up at Blenheim Palace and now lies in the church cemetery at the nearby village of Bladon.

In fact habitation goes back much further than this. At the head of the Thames we checked out Chedworth Roman Villa, one of the largest in England, where over a kilometre of walls have been unearthed (literally) plus two nicely tiled - they call them mosaic-ed - bathhouses. To bring it to life, around the site there are archers and apothecaries, cooks and servants hard at work and willing to share with visitors all the finer points of ancient life. Read more.....

New Zealand

To the east of Australia, the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' takes out twenfth place (145,836 square kilometres) for the South Island. Read about lovely Larnach castle the only castle in the southern hemisphere, ideally sited in glorious green rolling countryside on the Otago Peninsula east of Dunedin. 

A thousand feet above the sea, the view seems to go on forever, especially when you clamber to the rooftop via the winding tower stairs. Read more....

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The North Island, 111,583 square kilometres, is 14th.

Even if you haven't heard of Tauranga, you may know of The Bay of Plenty. It's a bounteous name that suits this lush and lovely area, rich in wine and food-loving people. The Bay itself is a generous scoop out the north-east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. South of the Coromandel Peninsula it sweeps away for 259 kilometres before officially finishing at Cape Runaway.

Cafe 88, in Maunganui is one of those cafes you would like in your town or suburb. Located near the ex-volcano, Mount Maunganui, just north of the city of Tauranga, this is the quiet end of town. This is where people walk along the beach and look across to see whatever large ship is anchored in the harbour today; where they begin their hour-long walk around the base of the mountain; where they stop for a coffee first (or afterwards) and sample something from this amazing array of cakes and slices. Read more......

Ireland

Number 20 island in the world is this green and quirky place, with Ireland 84,421 square kilometres of wonderful fun to be had. Visit Nadd in County Cork to see why.

Nadd Pub was almost full when we arrived. Although we'd come way out of town to what seemed like the middle of nowhere in the dark, amazingly there were dozens of cars parked around the small whitewashed building. A wave of noise and warmth, smoke and alcohol fumes hit us as we pushed into the brightness.

"This will be a  good night for craic," they told us. And ceol, too, they said, for tonight the musicians would be coming. Soon.

Craic, ceol and caint, Irish for fun, song and chat, is a combination that is almost irresistible to most people in this land of mists and magic. Mention there could be a story in it, mention a Guinness (or three) as a lure, sweeten the offer with a chance to mingle and sing, and no green-blooded Irish person can say no.

Cork, the largest Irish county, accounts for the south-western corner of Ireland, dangling several peninsulas like so many chilly toes into the warming Gulf Stream that curls up the west coast of Ireland. It brings with it a wash of palms and bamboo to places you would otherwise expect to see carpeted with pines and oaks.

Here in Cork you will find many pretty little villages, crayola villages, bright and clean, with each of the tall and narrow houses painted a bright and different colour like a box of crayons. The shops are technicolour too, so meticulously trimmed and signwritten, you know there must be a whole industry out there, employed just to keep them that way.

County Cork is full of surprises. Narrow roadsides are hedged with red fuschias and blackberry vines. Some of the best cheeses in the land made in tiny farmlet enterprises, but then the coast shocks you with severe rockscapes plunging into the sea. Read more...

 Sri Lanka

We could go on and on, but let's stop at #25, with 65,268 square kilometres of tropical forest, tea and some of the hottest (spiciest!) food on the planet.

Although Sri Lanka has only had this name since 1972, many businesses have retained the old name of Ceylon. One of the major reasons, we're told, is that Ceylon has been so heavily associated with tea-growing for almost two centuries. 'Ceylon tea' is respected worldwide and it is the world's third-largest producer of tea.

Many locals fish the waters around Sri Lanka, staying up all night on their outrigger canoes fishing several kilometres out to sea for cod and mullet.

Hauling in the catch requires a team of men, usually about a dozen each side, dragging on thick ropes to bring in a net which would hopefully be full of fish.

As in every country, dance is an important way of telling stories abut daily life. Here, these dancers mime the winnowing of rice using shallow baskets.

Even though Sri Lanka is only separated from India by a strait, it is the worlds oldest continually Buddhist country. All temples have a Bo-tree because that was the tree under which Lord Buddha was seated when he was enlightened about 2500 years ago.

Read more...