The TV series was based on the novel "Cobbler's Dream" by Monica Dickens. In this book, the farm was not named. The name "Follyfoot Farm" was devised by Tamara Essex, daughter of the programme's producer and writer Tony Essex, based on the village of Follifoot (note the slightly different spelling) in North Yorkshire, which was a few miles from Hollin Farm, the location used for the farm in the series. Monica Dickens wrote several more books in the early 1970s to coincide with the TV series, and referred to the previously un-named farm as "Follyfoot Farm" in those books.