New owners of the estate‚ who took over in 2015‚ have elevated the status of the colony of flightless Indian Runner ducks – which discretely ate snails in the vineyards for decades – turning them into a media sensation by staging thrice-daily duck parades.
The nearly 1000 ducks enjoyed yet another moment of international fame this week when they were featured in the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this year‚ the estate hired a full-time social-media manager to work with a duck breeder and duck master - or “flock flagman”- to tend to the ducks.
It took a month to train them to be on their best behaviour for visitors. “In the beginning they’d run inside the garden and destroy all the vegetables‚” duck master Denzel Matthys told the newspaper.
Visitor numbers have soared since the creatures were transformed into celebrity farm workers.
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