In an article in "Röster i Radio" in 1962, before Olle Hellbom's adaptation of the Bullerbyn books was broadcast on TV, Astrid Lindgren wrote about the reality behind Bullerbyn:

"Does Bullerbyn exist? I constantly receive letters from children who eagerly demand an answer to that question ... does Bullerbyn exist? If so, they want to move there immediately. At least, there is a little girl in Vienna who is resolutely determined on that point; she tells her mother that it would be foolish to stay in Vienna when there is a place like Bullerbyn. Because it does exist, doesn't it, she wonders anxiously? It's difficult to answer such a letter. What the young letter writer is asking for, of course, is that there should be a small village with three farms right next to each other, the houses should be so close together that one could climb from the southern attic room in the Middle Farm straight through a lime tree to the northern gable room in the South Farm, and there should be six children in the village, Lasse, Bosse, and Olle, Lisa, Britta, and Anna, and then an extra little one, Olle's little sister Kerstin.

If I were to answer the little letter writer completely honestly now, she probably wouldn't be pleased. She wouldn't be satisfied if I answered like this:

Bullerbyn once existed, but it's been a long time. It wasn't exactly like it is in the books - it never is - but the children existed, the games existed, the meadows were full of stone piles and wild strawberries, the children of Bullerbyn ran barefoot there and built playhouses and huts and threaded strawberries on straws. The haystack existed, the children of Bullerbyn sometimes slept there and made many caves in the hay. The owl tree existed, where Bullerbyn's Bosse once laid a hen's egg and let the owls hatch a chick for him, the mouse farm existed, "Bullerbyn's mouse farm," even though the mice escaped on the first night ... much to the dismay of Bullerbyn's Lasse.

The spring spot in the ditch existed, where Bullerbyn's Anna and Lisa sat behind the bird-cherry trees and "didn't know themselves what they were doing," the cowslip meadows existed and the wood anemone spots, where the first wood anemones grew, the wise mare Svea existed and was just as wise as it says in the book, the angry ram existed, and the kind grandfather, who gave the children in Bullerbyn sugar lumps and said "håhåjaja," he existed too, oh yes, the whole Bullerbyn existed, and Bullerbyn's Lisa lived in an old red house with white trim and a round flowerbed in front.

The red house still stands today. But it can hardly be any consolation for those who write and ask: "Does Bullerbyn exist?"

The Bullerbyn they mean is gone and can never come again ... "håhåjaja"! But on Saturday evenings in autumn, they can watch on TV something that quite closely resembles it."

The stories about the children of Bullerbyn are also the story of life and traditions in Sweden before urbanization and globalization. We learn about how the annual celebrations were celebrated but also about what everyday life looked like, with maids, farmhands, vagabonds, harvesting, and haymaking.

On the farm Näs where Astrid Lindgren grew up, there were plenty of adult role models for children among the farmhands and maids, laundry women, and cowherds. Despite being servants, they became, as members of the family, an important part of the daily lives for the children at Näs. Lina and Alfred in Katthult, Agda in Bullerbyn, and Alva in Madicken all borrowed traits from maids and farmhands at Näs. Astrid herself has recounted how the children played pranks on the maids, secretly read their love letters, and disrupted their rare romantic encounters.

"For a child, it was fun and educational to grow up as I did with people of various manners, kinds, and ages. From them, I learned – without them knowing it and without me knowing it – something about the conditions of life and how tricky it can be to be human."

From "Minnes..." ("Memories..."), Samuel August from Sevedstorp and Hanna in Hult.