The uplands away to the south (5)
I believe the answer is:
downs
'the uplands' is the definition.
(down is a kind of upland)
'away to the south' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'south' could be 's' (abbreviation) and 's' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'down' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for downs that I've seen before include "Drinks in one" , "Southern uplands" , "S. England chalk hills" , "Naturally part of SE England" , "Gently rolling hills" .)