On a walk in her beloved Lake District one day, Beatrix Potter saw hoof prints that were smaller than those made by horses and shaped differently from those of deer or sheep. She imagined tiny horses ridden by fairies, and the idea grew into The Fairy Caravan. Potter wrote the story for her own enjoyment and for a thirteen-year-old American boy named Henry P. Coolidge who had visited her at her farm with his mother Gail in 1927. Since it was not intended for publication, Potter wrote the story using local idioms and actual locations. She also included characters based on herself, her friends, and her pets.