The botanic collection was moved to the spacious gardens of Bracken Hill beside North Road, Leigh Woods, near the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Bracken Hill house and some of the gardens continued to be used by the plant pathology and other services of the government's National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAAS), advising farmers and growers from Herefordshire and Dorset to Lands End during and after World War II when UK-grown crops were vital to minimise rationing.

[2][3] In 2005 a new garden was created in the grounds of 'The Holmes', a site in Stoke Bishop opposite Churchill Hall, and a number of the botanic collections, which supported the new themes, were transplanted.

[5] The garden has 640 square metres (6,900 sq ft) of greenhouses divided into cool, warm-temperate, sub-tropic and tropical zones which house plants from the evolution collection.

[13] The local-flora and rare-native collection includes the unusual species found in the Avon Gorge, Mendip Hills, Somerset Levels and surrounding areas.