Nevil's little place in the Kentish area (5)
I believe the answer is:
shute
'kentish area' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'nevil's little place in' is the wordplay.
'nevil' becomes 'hut' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'little' means to remove the last letter (the word is not quite complete).
'place' becomes 'set' (setting is a kind of placing).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'set' with its final letter taken away is 'se'.
'hut' placed within 'se' is 'SHUTE'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shute that I've seen before include "Nevil --, novelist and engineer" , "Nevil --, novelist (A town like Alice)" , "Nevil -, author (A Town Like Alice)" .)