Virginia and Leslie down in the country (5)

I believe the answer is:

vales

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'virginia and leslie down in the country' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'virginia and leslie' is the wordplay.
'virginia' becomes 'va' (US state abbreviation).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'leslie' becomes 'les' (short for Leslie).
'va'+'les'='VALES'

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