Liberal leaving place of worship in wooded vale (5)
I believe the answer is:
tempe
'wooded vale' is the definition.
(the Vale of Tempe in Greece)
'liberal leaving place of worship' is the wordplay.
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'leaving' suggests deleting specific letters.
'place of worship' becomes 'temple' (temple is a kind of place of worship).
'temple' with 'l' removed is 'TEMPE'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tempe that I've seen before include "beautiful valley" , "valley of great beauty" , "A beautiful place" , "peaceful valley" , "beauty spot" .)