ROCKET science has finally reached the Countryside Education Trust at Beaulieu which shows children just what life is like in Britain's farms, fields and woodlands.

It has arrived in the shape of a brand new composting machine which is called The Rocket by its inventors because of the speed at which it turns waste into good garden compost.

It may not look like a rocket and is more like a large metal - stainless steel and galvanised steel to be precise - box balanced on a slope.

But within the space of a fortnight it can turn a mixture of straw, cardboard, leaves and leftovers from children's meals and the trust's kitchen operations into something which will help the garden grow.

"We have just taken out the first crop and the signs are good, so we will be using it in the trust garden," said the CET's countryside and community officer Vivien Drake.

She added: "We have tried other methods for cooked food waste and it has been a real problem. But the government has set out targets for the amount of recycling which will be required in the future and we hope this will help us on the way."

Because of the composting work, children staying at the trust have recycling duties on their programmes and everyone is playing a part in ensuring that waste is not really wasted. The Rocket was sponsored by the lottery's New Opportunities Fund in conjunction with the Royal Society for Nature Conservation.