Late Philip Wood developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of botany and horticulture and bred new varieties of plants and flowers for the nurseries in Northern Ireland. Before he settled down in NI he served in the Royal Corps of Signals and saw active service in many countries around the world during WWII. After the war, Philip took up the post of manager of the Slieve Donard Nursery in Newcastle, County Down. He was also one of the founding members of the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team and was appointed as its first leader. Later when retired, he devoted his time to designing gardens and providing advice, sharing his knowledge through gardening classes, lectures, newspaper articles, radio programmes and through the television series such as ‘Kitchen Garden’ with Jenny Bristow and David Wilson and 'How Does Your Garden Grow?' which he wrote and co-presented on UTV.
Jennifer Ann Bristow is a Northern Irish cook and cookery writer. Bristow was brought up on her family's dairy farm near Coleraine. A former home economics teacher at Cambridge House in Ballymena, Bristow made her first television appearance on Ulster Television's Farming Ulster in 1989 demonstrating how to cook with potatoes, which led a producer at the station to offer Bristow her own series. Jenny Bristow has now published over 10 cookery books and equally impressive number of TV programmes.