You would like my mother's house. Her front yard is designed to look like a tiny little clearing in a forest, so there is grass there. But the back yard is different. She has different trees, types of garden plots, and little benches all over her yard. There are pathways twisting around her yard, and they are filled with wood chips. She has natural rocks lining the paths. It's really well done, because she has the shorter plants all in plots of their own, and the taller plants are in plots that block out the view of the house, or the neighbors. So you always feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, in a really nice garden. And of course she has convenient benches all over the place.
Now my yard, on the other hand, is so full of weeds and clover, that I might as well have something other than grass growing there <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I personally have never had a yard like what you're describing, but I know people who swear by it.
