Converts reference to :class:`Path <pathlib.Path>`

        :raise ValueError: If ``reference`` can't be converted to :class:`Path <pathlib.Path>`.

def validate_reference(self, reference: ReferenceDefinitionType) -> Optional[Path]:
        """ Converts reference to :class:`Path <pathlib.Path>`

        :raise ValueError: If ``reference`` can't be converted to :class:`Path <pathlib.Path>`.
        """
        if reference is not None:
            if isinstance(reference, bytes):
                reference = reference.decode("utf-8")
            try:
                return Path(reference)
            except TypeError:
                raise ValueError(f"Can't convert reference path {reference} to a pathlib.Path")

        return None