Highly esteemed place surrounded by grass (7)
I believe the answer is:
reputed
'highly esteemed' is the definition.
'reputed' can be an answer for 'esteemed' ('repute' can be a synonym of 'esteem'). I'm not certain of the 'highly' bit.
'place surrounded by grass' is the wordplay.
'place' becomes 'put' (synonyms).
'surrounded by' indicates putting letters inside.
'grass' becomes 'reed' (I've seen this before).
'put' inserted into 'reed' is 'REPUTED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reputed that I've seen before include "Generally believed to exist" , "Regarded as such" , "Deemed" , "Erupted (anag)" , "Generally believed (to be the case)" .)