Feat: add expansion of user directory

[dalmijn]

Issue addressed

Fixes Providing paths pointing to the user home directory (~)

Explanation

Ensure Path typing for (local) paths (non urls) and then expand the user sign.

General Checklist

• Updated tests or added new tests
• Branch is up to date with main
• Tests & pre-commit hooks pass
• Updated documentation
• Updated changelog.rst

Data/Catalog checklist

• data/catalogs/predefined_catalogs.yml has not been modified.
• None of the old data_catalog.yml files have been changed
• data/changelog.rst has been updated
• new file uses LF line endings (done automatically if you used update_versions.py)
• New file has been tested locally
• Tests have been added using the new file in the test suite

Additional Notes (optional)

Add any additional notes or information that may be helpful.