Place of refuge, maybe spot in the country (7)
I believe the answer is:
denmark
'country' is the definition.
(Denmark is an example)
'place of refuge maybe spot' is the wordplay.
'place of refuge' becomes 'den'.
'maybe spot' becomes 'mark'.
'den'+'mark'='DENMARK'
'in the' is the link.
(Other definitions for denmark that I've seen before include "Aarhus is its second-largest city" , "Mark end of the country" , "Hamlet's country" , "EU member" , "Monarchy, a member of the European Union" .)