A WEALTHY Lakeland family had an eye-opening experience when they met a poverty-stricken London family during the filming of a Channel 4 documentary.

Entrepreneur and English Lakes Hotels owner Jonathan Denby, his wife Margaret, and their two daughters, Sara and Georgina, will feature in ‘How the Other Half Lives’ – a documentary series which aims to show what it means to grow up in poverty in 21st-century Britain.

The Denbys were asked to help the Isaac Welcome family, who live below the poverty line on a crime-ridden North London estate.

“The programme is seen through the eyes of children,” said Mr Denby.

“My daughter Sara, who is 11, got to know a 12-year-old girl, from a rough council estate in North London, called Dominique.

“She is part of a family of five who live on a crime-ridden estate where gangs run riot.

"Her mothe, Charlene is keen for her children to be brought up without involvement with these groups and life was becoming intolerable for them, so we helped out.”

The programme documents the Denbys meeting with the Isaac Welcome family as they become friends and learn impor-tant lessons from each other.

“We live in a virtually crime-free area, so it was amazing to see how in this day and age people on council estates live life without any guidance or real help,” said Mr Denby.

“It was an eye-opener because crime is not some-thing that we see in this area.

"We saw the gangs congregating. Dominique’s sister, Nicolle, has been stabbed and they have both been robbed.”

Mr Denby hopes that the two families will remain friends.

This summer Dominique and Nicolle will visit the Denbys in their Victorian home, in Grange-over-Sands.

“We felt very privileged to meet the wonderful Isaac Welcome family and Sara learned a lot from it.”

* The programme will be shown on Channel 4 tonight Thursday at 9pm.