If ever a publican needed a drink to steady his nerves it was Richard Boyce, after almost falling to his death down a 60ft (18.2 metre) well.
Mr Boyce, owner of Ormondville's Settlers Arms, reckons he was lucky to escape with just bruises and a damaged knee after the floor of a historic shed behind the pub collapsed beneath him and he crashed into the brick-lined well.
"If I hadn't grabbed that old washing machine agitator I was a goner," he told the Dannevirke News.
The Settlers Arms opened on January 5, 1881 and the little shed that hides the well was the first such building in Ormondville. But Mr Boyce, who has been the publican for more than nine years, had no idea of the well's existence - until he found himself falling through the floor of the shed.
"I was stacking hay for my daughter's horse when the floor gave way and that was it," he said.
"No one told me the well was there and it was just lucky I hit the old agitator as I went down.
"I was hanging on for dear life, because if I hadn't I wouldn't be here today. One thing's for sure, there's no hay going in that shed again."
Mr Boyce is lucky he did not suffer the fate of one of the well builders in 1906.
Workmen had been engaged by Tom Bennett, the publican, to dig a deep well. However, when it reached its completed depth of 60ft they noticed a man lying down below in a "state of collapse".
The boss at the time called Constable Butler, who lowered a string with a candle tied to it.
Judging by the candle's flame, it was decided there was no oxygen and the man had died of asphyxiation.
Feeling the effects of his fall, Mr Boyce was determined to fill the well in, but his friend and local contractor Hap Summerell has other ideas.
"I've told Richard not to fill it in but to turn it into a tourist attraction instead. It would be silly to fill it in because it's part of the history of the pub. But we'd have to do the old shed up a bit - it's got a lean on it - and put some sort of cage around the well, but with some lights down there it would be magic."
Mr Boyce concedes it could be a good idea.
"I'm the caretaker of the accommodation at the railway station across the road.
"I take the bookings, make the beds and do the washing, and it would be an easy step across the road for tourists to come and see the well, but the shed has to be made safe first."