14:33 on 10 August 2025. We had bought korokke at Hayama Station, had lunch at MARLOWE in Hayama Marina, and drove straight on to where we were staying: &MOON Noa, a whole-house rental in a residential pocket of Horiuchi, Hayama, close to Moriso Beach. One night, as a family.
The conclusion first: what I remember about this house is not the sea and not the terrace. It is that the bedroom was a cinema.
Through the front door, and immediately stairs
14:37, the entrance. A grey stone-tiled floor, wooden stairs going up immediately on the right, a white panelled door ahead, and a pot plant on a small round table beside it. There is of course nothing like a hotel front desk. From the moment you turn the key it is simply your house.
The building is tall and narrow — three floors, connected by stairs. Carrying luggage up is a little work, but the trade-off is that each floor has a clearly separate job.
A living-dining room built around one long table
14:36. The living-dining room is a straightforward space in white walls and pale wood floor, with a long single-slab wooden table at the centre. Three or more chairs along one side; six people would sit comfortably.
A brown leather sofa at the far end. On the wall, a lit artwork cut into a circle with a shoreline inside it. Curtains gathered with tassels beside three small windows. A slightly retro pendant light hanging from the ceiling.
At the right edge of the photograph is a suitcase that has only just arrived. At this point nothing has started yet.
The kitchen was more serious than expected
The kitchen is where whole-house rentals differ most, I think. This one was good.
A mortar-finish counter with a peninsula layout. A large stainless fridge, microwave, oven, coffee maker. A pull-out spring tap at the sink. And above all, glasses and plates in proper matched numbers on the open shelving under the counter.
This is not “there is also a kitchen.” It is designed on the assumption that you will cook here and eat here. If your kind of trip involves shopping and cooking, this house is strong.
The sky terrace on the third floor
14:33 — this was actually the first photograph I took. The third-floor sky terrace: an outdoor space floored in terracotta tile, and because it is roofed and walled, closer to a courtyard than a terrace.
It had evidently been raining until just before we arrived; the tiles were still wet and shining. Cloud from edge to edge. Even so, through the gap in the wall you can see the low roofs of Hayama and the sea beyond them.
Out here: a BBQ grill (still under its cover), a metal prep table, a bench, a large planter. You can cook and eat in the same place.
The same terrace from another angle. Two black deck chairs, a rattan low table, walls painted turquoise, wooden beams overhead.
The interesting part: folding glass doors open off the terrace directly into a washroom with a shower and two basins side by side. Out of the bath and straight onto the terrace — a circulation you could never build in a normal house.
And then the bedroom was a cinema
14:39. Opening the door on the third floor was the peak of the stay.
One entire side of the room is a screen. Two beds in white linen sit low on a platform, and the wall at their head holds a large embedded screen. Warm indirect lighting is set into the foot of the bed platform and into the pillars either side of the screen, sketching the outline of the room in a soft glow.
In front: a large white sofa, a round rattan chair, a low wooden table. The floor is stone-patterned and cool underfoot.
We watched a film in this room as a family.
Not sitting in chairs. Lying on the bed, with a large screen almost directly above you. With the lights down, the only things glowing in the room are the screen and the lighting at floor level, and it really is like being inside a cinema.
And it is only you. No worrying about the volume, no holding off on going to get a drink. The fridge is on the ground floor so that means the stairs — and even that was part of the fun of borrowing a house.
It is common enough to think “that was a good room” about somewhere you stay. It had been a long time since I thought “I would come back for this room alone.”
Notes from the stay
- Stayed: Sunday 10 – Monday 11 August 2025, one night as a family. Checked in shortly after 14:30
- &MOON Noa — 905-5 Horiuchi, Hayama-machi, Miura-gun, Kanagawa. Whole-house rental near Moriso Beach
- Sleeps up to five. The main bedroom is 18 tatami with two double beds plus the theatre screen and sofas; there is a second third-floor bedroom with a queen bed (per the property’s own listing)
- Three floors, tall and narrow. A lot of stairs — worth knowing with small children or heavy luggage
- Kitchen: peninsula layout, three IH rings, microwave, fridge-freezer, full set of cookware. You can plan around cooking
- Sky terrace on the third floor: sea views, two deck chairs, BBQ possible. Roofed, so light rain is not a problem
- Theatre room: the main bedroom is the point of this house. Decide what you want to watch beforehand and make sure you can log into your streaming service
- Shopping: Hayama Station is minutes away by car. Buying Hayama beef, korokke and local vegetables from Asahiya and bringing them back is the most luxurious way to use this place
- Rates vary a lot by season and party size — check the booking sites
I had thought of Hayama as somewhere you go for the sea. That day was cloud after rain and we barely went near the water. It was a completely satisfying day regardless: korokke eaten in the car, pudding at the marina, and falling asleep in a bedroom cinema. That is also a way to spend Hayama.
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