Hi, I agree about the paving. We have a small garden with raised borders with lots of lovely bushes/plants in (courtesy of previous owners and a small paved bit and a larger grassy bit. But the garden is very shady and the soil is clay, so we have horrible weeds in the grass, the borders make it tricky to mow, and the boys can't push their tractors/fire engines/tricycles around it very well. We just don't use the garden very much, except for growing veg in pots in the summer. We are in the process of getting quotes to increase the paved area as we hope that the boys will then be able to bring their toys outside when the weather is good.
Before this house, we rented a place that had gravel in most of the back 'yard' plus a few planters. Everyone said 'oh, very low maintenance' but it wasn't, not with a 2 year old! Again, not very good for his push along toys, plus the ground hadn't been prepared well before laying down the gravel, so I spent loads of time weeding, and ds1 spent loads of time throwing the gravel around, including in the planters. It was a nightmare, to be honest.
Prior to that we rented a flat where the landlord lived above us and we shared the garden, but they did all the gardening. They went for the paved option, with borders for plants, and it worked very well. I could take ds1 out there whenever the weather was good, and when he was younger I just had to put a mat down, but that stage doesn't last long, as sophy says.