Our last place I convinced my husband not to use weedmat and just keep a thick layer of mulch on the garden. Which in turn meant we were constantly pulling out all the weeds - they thrived in it.
We're not keen gardeners and we'll have alot of gardens (due to the HSTP disposal area) and I'm not keen on spending my week-ends always weeding the garden.
Which means this time he is adament we'll have weedmat down ... unless someone has some better ideas.