Gets together, taking walks around southern Home Counties (9)
I believe the answer is:
assembles
'gets together' is the definition.
('assemble' can be a synonym of 'get together')
'walks around southern home counties' is the wordplay.
'walks' becomes 'ambles' (amble is a kind of walk**).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'home counties' becomes 'se'.
's'+'se'='sse'
'ambles' placed around 'sse' is 'ASSEMBLES'.
'taking' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for assembles that I've seen before include "Gathers together in a group" , "Brings or comes together in one place" .)