Snuggling in home by the heather (8)
I believe the answer is:
nestling
'snuggling' is the definition.
('nestle' can be a synonym of 'snuggle')
'home by the heather' is the wordplay.
'home' becomes 'nest' (I've seen this before**).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'the heather' becomes 'ling' ('ling' can be a synonym of 'heather').
'nest'+'ling'='NESTLING'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for nestling that I've seen before include "Sitting snugly" , "Unfledged bird" , "Little bird" , "Chick" , "not yet put out" .)