Cat taking water in French country house (7)
I believe the answer is:
chateau
'french country house' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cat taking water' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'water' could be 'eau' (I have seen 'French water ' mean 'eau' so perhaps 'water' could also mean 'eau') and 'eau' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'chat' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for chateau that I've seen before include "Impressive French building" , "French wine producer" , "French stately home" , "Impressive house in France" , "Impressive dwelling in France" .)